Falling Down
by angeltalk
Summary: It's been a few months since the fall of Gaea. Percy's been spending his time around camp, hanging out with his girlfriend, and trying to forget some of the not-so-stellar parts of their recent journey. As it turns out, there's one part of the quest he can't forget. Tartarus. Little does he know, Tartarus may have left a bigger impact than a memory. One that may cost him his life.
1. I Dream About Dead People

**_Prologue: _**

_It's been a few months since the fall of Gaea. Percy's been spending his time around camp, hanging out with his girlfriend, and trying to forget some of the not-so-stellar parts of their recent journey. As it turns out, there's one part of the quest he can't forget. Tartarus. Little does he know, Tartarus may have left a bigger impact than a memory. One that may cost him his life._

**_author note:_**

okay so this is the first fanfic thing ive ever written. it's from percy's pov and he's basically struggling with the aftereffects (and most likely ptsd) of tartarus, and some other stuff that I won't spoil for you.

edit 1: As for romance this story will mostly stick to what's cannon in the books, besides for little things im throwing in here and there. Nevertheless, enjoy!

**Falling Down - Chapter 1**

**I Dream About Dead People**

Percy woke with a violent shudder, his voice catching in his throat as he attempted to scream. He wildly threw off the bedsheets, scrambling for a weapon to face his oncoming attacker. Percy drew Riptide from his pocket, sweat dripping down his face. It was only after a minute of standing with his blade pointed at nothing that Percy realized he was alone in Cabin Three at Camp Half Blood. Slowly, he sank back down onto his bunk.

Yeah, it was common for demigods to have more than a healthy amount of wild dreams, it was really no big deal. But Percy hadn't been having his regular run-of-the-mill demigod-nightmare-helping since his tryst through Tartarus. Now his nightmares consisted of horrifying reruns of enemies he'd encountered down there, terrifying images of Annabeth dying as he's unable to move. Drowning in pools of his own blood. Drowning in pools of his friends blood. Things he'd hoped he'd never see again. Things he'd never seen yet his mind created out of his worst fears.

Yeah. Fun stuff. Percy knew Annabeth was suffering the same kind of nightmares in her own cabin, but they never talked about it. Their unspoken philosophy was to do their best to forget, and life would get better.

Recently, though, with the war with Gaea being over there was nothing to distract him from fun dream torture. He'd woken up screaming every night this week. Percy dropped his face into his hands. He knew he should talk to someone about it. Maybe like, get it off his mind or something by just telling someone, then maybe it'd go away. Unfortunately for Percy, he wasn't the kind of guy who went around dumping his problems onto others. Actually, he had an annoying habit of taking on his friends' problems instead. So basically, Percy wasn't good at opening up like that to people; it just wasn't something he did.

He got up and made his way to the bathroom. Apparently while the seven had been out on the Argo II, the campers had installed bathrooms in all the cabins. Percy was definitely not complaining.

He turned on the sink and let the water flow over his hands for a minute before splashing his face with it. Honestly, just dunking his face into the saltwater spring in the other room would probably have the same effect, but Percy was too distracted to feel uncivilized. He was glad Tyson wasn't at camp right now, the big guy would be worried out of his mind. Percy looked into the mirror, leaning closer to get a good look at his eyes, which were red. It looked kind of Christmas-y, his sea green eyes contrasting with the sickly puffy redness of the whites of his eyes.

Percy splashed his face one more time for good measure, turning off the water and heading back into his room. A few days ago he'd considered asking Mr. D if he had some kind of godly sleeping pills and if Percy could have some. He didn't, of course, unsure of what the god of wine would say back to him.

Deciding that sleep would be useless at this point (more like he was tired but just didn't want any nightmares,) Percy concluded that taking a trip to Jason's cabin at two in the morning was a great idea.

He snuck quietly across the lawn. The Harpies would be out, and Percy wasn't too keen on becoming lunch for ugly bird women who reminded him of every mean lunch lady he'd ever met. Reaching the Zeus Cabin, he looked around behind him to make sure nobody was following. The door opened with a click, and Percy let himself inside.

The interior of the Zeus cabin was similar to the Poseidon Cabin, just minus the soothing salt water pool and with the addition of a Hippie Zeus statue that made Percy wonder how Jason slept at night. Speaking of Jason, Percy noted that he was sound asleep in his bunk, turned on his side facing the wall. The blonde superman had been traveling pretty diligently between both camps recently, so it was no wonder he was passed out like a log. Percy wasn't supposed to go to New Rome to begin college for another two months, so he had been staying at Camp Half Blood to help out.

Percy was about to go sit on Jason until he woke up when he noticed a sudden movement in the corner of the room.

"Hey Percy."

Percy practically tripped over his feet and just barely avoided falling over backwards onto Jason.

"Nico! You scared me!" Percy whispered frantically, "What are you doing here?"

"_Ssshhhh_! Don't be so loud! And I was just about to ask you the same thing." Nico whispered, much quieter than Percy's whispering.

"Uhhh, just coming to see my bro Jason. Isn't a guy allowed to come see his bro unannounced at two in the morning sometimes?"

"Well, uh-"

"So what about you? What are you doing here?" Percy said, cutting him off.

"Im just- hey, stop that!" Nico scowled as Percy began waggling his eyebrows, "It's not like that!"

"Dude, are you like, watching him sleep or something? That's adorable. And kind of creepy." Percy faked a gasp, "Maybe we should wake him up to tell him what you've been up to." He started reaching towards the snoozing guy on the bed.

"No!"

"Chill, chill, I wasn't actually going to, man. I'm not that mean." Percy laughed, "But really….what _are_ you doing in here?"

"Look….forget it. I've gotta go anyway and it's not important." Nico scoffed, walking across the room to the door. Percy watched him silently, remembering the vague but horrendous things Nico had occasionally mentioned about his descent alone into Tartarus.

"Was it the nightmares?" Percy asked softly.

Nico stopped just as his hand hit the doorknob. He let loose a little sigh and turned to face Percy, the moonlight coming in from the windows made it just bright enough to make out the dark circles under his eyes, his tired physique.

"Yeah." He whispered, glancing at Jason and scrunching his eyebrows.

"Yeah, me too." Percy sighed, moving over to the bunk on the other side of the room and sat down, "I was gonna wake Jason to ask if he wanted to break into the Big House to play some video games. You know, to take my mind off stuff."

Percy heard Nico stifle a laugh and looked up at him, "What?"

"You wanted to break into the Big House at 2:30 AM to play video games? Did you think Chiron was just gonna let you do that?" Nico leaned against the wall with his hand over his mouth, "Forget Chiron, Mr. D would feed you to the harpies."

"Hey! At least my ideas are better than staring at blonde superman suck his thumb all night."

"That is so not what was happening."

"Oh, why? Could it be? Is Jason not-"

"Don't you dare."

"Your-"

"PERCY."

"Type?"

"JACKSON."

Percy made an incredulous expression, crossing his arms and trying not to laugh. Gods, Nico was so easy to rile up it was almost like a sport. Nico threw up his hands in frustration, muttering stuff in Italian under his breath. Initially, when Nico told Percy he wasn't his type, Percy had badgered Annabeth about it for days asking how could he not be his type. Why wasn't he his type? Was he Annabeth's type? He eventually shut up when Annabeth reminded him they were dating.

Anyway, he was pretty much over it, especially considering he was never interested in Nico like that in the first place. Their relationship since then had gone back to normal, as normal as a friendship between two of the world's most powerful demigods can be. Add Jason into that mix and you had either a perfect recipe for some serious fun, or a one way ticket to Tartarus. Scratch that. A one way ticket to the Underworld. Percy didn't want to think about Tartarus. And speaking of Jason, he was starting to shift under his covers.

Nico sighed and rubbed his temples, "I should get going, Hazel wants me in New Rome by morning."

"Alright dude, Iris message me if you need anything." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, "Or like, if you want to talk about, you know, the nightm-"

"Yeah. I will." Nico said, cutting Percy off. Percy knew that 'I will' really meant 'I will definitely not', but it was okay with him. He knew Nico would come out of the shadows when he was ready; and open up to his friends about his nightmares when he was comfortable. No need to rush. Percy guessed he and Nico were kind of similar in that way, but he knew that Nico had probably been through a hell of a lot worse: not just down in Tartarus but also in the time he spent slowly dying in that jar.

As the door clicked behind Nico, Percy was left alone with a snoozing blonde superman. Percy put his elbows on his knees, watching the soft rise and fall of Jason's breathing. Maybe Nico had actually come in here to watch Jason sleep. It was calming, if you could put it out of your mind that it was slightly creepy. And on the plus side, Jason was the only one of his close friends who wouldn't think twice if he woke up with Percy staring at him from the other bed. Percy scooted back against the pillows and played with the hem of his shirt as he listened to Jason's rhythmic breathing and fought off drowsiness.

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He was standing in a dull barren field, the air was thick and noxious - just breathing it in was making him light headed. Percy glanced around nervously, the red haze of fog hanging around him making it hard to see anything. He coughed into his sleeve, recoiling when he smelled the metallic scent of blood on his clothing. Percy stumbled backwards, breathing heavy. He glanced at his other hand, and realized slowly that he was holding Riptide. A really, really bloody Riptide. Percy gagged, dropping it in disgust. His gaze was torn away as he heard a muffled cry.

Percy's horrified gaze landed on Leo, who was on his knees with a sword - Riptide - in his chest. His eyes wide and glazed, he stared up at Percy in terror. Percy began to shake and stared at his hands. Why was Riptide in Leo's chest? Had Percy done that? Why was Leo even here? Wasn't he already dead? Percy's shaking gaze landed back on the curly haired boy in front of him.

"It's your fault." Leo said in a raspy voice.

"Leo - I'm sorry, I-I didn't - what's happening? Wh-what happened?" Percy gasped, falling to his knees in front of the mechanic.

"It's your fault I'm dead. If you had fought Gaea with us this wouldn't have happened. This is all your fault."

Leo's blood suddenly started flowing faster, his brown eyes locked into Percy's like an inferno.

"I trusted you."

Leo's form burst into a thick wave of blood and ash, filling up the field as Percy stumbled and splashed to his feet.

"We all trusted you."

Leo's disembodied voice rose to a scream as Percy's head went under and blood filled his lungs.

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"Percy? Percy!"

Percy's eyes flew open and he gasped for breath, feeling himself shuddering violently, "Jason," He croaked out.

Jason was leaning over him on the little cot, his eyebrows scrunched together in worry, "Hey," He said, putting a hand on Percy's forehead, "You look terrible, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Jason gave him a skeptical look, "_Sure_ you're fine, that's why I woke up to you screaming and tossing like the bedsheets were eating you for breakfast." He sighed, running a hand over the back of his neck, "Look, Percy… Piper told me about the nightmares. She heard from Annabeth."

Percy stayed silent, biting his bottom lip slightly. He pushed himself up, brushing off Jason's hand. "I'm fine. It was nothing, trust me dude." He stood up, stretching his arms in fake calmness. Percy willed himself to stop shaking. He hadn't meant to fall asleep in here; that was a big mistake.

"Percy…"

"Jason, it's fine. It was just a dumb nightmare." Percy smiled, pretending to rub sleep out of his eyes.

"Then why were you in here?" Jason said, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the bed, "You must have come in here really early this morning and I want to know why."

"I was bored! I was gonna ask if you wanted to play some video games but I fell asleep waiting for you to wake up."

Jason just looked at him. Percy looked back, raising his eyebrows in defiance.

"Percy, I'm worried about you. Annabeth told Piper the nightmares have been getting bad lately and she wakes up in a cold sweat almost every night. I'd be willing to bet that the same thing is happening to you. I'm not stupid, Percy, just let me help you." Jason said softly, taking a step towards the son of Poseidon.

Percy ran a hand over his face, turning to face Jason. "Look, I'm not good at this stuff-"

"I don't care. It doesn't matter if our days on the Argo II are over, we're still a team and we still need to look out for each other."

Percy stared at Jason for a few seconds, and then sighed and quietly murmured, "It was about Leo."

He saw Jason physically freeze. Over the past few months it was almost taboo to talk about Jason's deceased best friend while he was around. Same with Piper. Out of everyone, they probably took his death the worst. Jason had locked himself in the Zeus Cabin for days, while Piper went into the woods to Bunker Nine and spent a week there by herself. They had been Leo's best friends, and everyone knew not to talk about him anywhere near either of them.

"What happened?" Jason asked quietly, sinking himself down onto the bed, eyebrows creased and eyes focused.

"He was…He…I- I saw him dying, like, in front of me and…" Percy decided to leave the part about Riptide being lodged into the mechanic's ribcage, "He talked about how it was…my fault..that he was dead. He said he trusted me and- Jason please, don't make me say this stuff."

Jason looked like he was on the edge of his seat. "No, no no. It's okay, keep going."

Percy bit his lip again. He didn't want to upset Jason, didn't want to talk about the dream and make it seem like it was all about himself, and also didn't want to talk about it for the sole reason that he didn't want to. Percy Jackson didn't have problems. On the occasion that Percy Jackson did have problems, he handled them himself.

"Look, he basically told me it was my fault Gaea killed him and that I let everyone down for letting him die."

"But…Percy, you weren't even there when he died." Jason's voice caught a little at the word 'died', "There was nothing you could have done."

Percy sighed as Jason patted the spot next to him, gesturing that he wanted him to sit next to him. Percy obliged, flopping down next to him.

"There was though. I could have been there. I SHOULD have been there. It could have been me instead of him; there was absolutely no reason for Leo to die. If I had been up there, fighting with Gaea with you guys I could have-"

"Percy."

Percy was vaguely aware of his voice rising in hysteria with each passing second, "I could have saved him, Jason, he thinks it's my fault and he hates me because I didn't save him - it drowned me. It drowned me, and it wasn't water. But it was like, blood. Really thick, hot blood and it kept pouring out of him," Jason put a firm hand on Percy's shoulder and Percy jerked away, "His voice didn't even have a body it was just there in my ears and the blood from where I stabbed him was everywhere. I don't remember stabbing him - it was just there, in his stomach. Riptide, I mean, but I didn't put it there! I never wanted any of this to happen. Now Leo's in Tartarus and I stabbed him with Riptide and-"

Jason pulled Percy to him, pushing Poseidon's son's face to his shoulder.

"Listen to me, none of what you saw is real. Leo's death wasn't your fault, and he's not in Tartarus either. It was just a dream."

Percy's face went even further into Jason's shoulder, if even possible. His voice lowered back down to it's normal tone, his rising panic snuffed out at the physical contact Jason made with him. "It happens every night. Every night it's something new. I don't know how to deal with it, man. I just want it to stop."

Jason slowly rubbed circles into Percy's back. Percy knew this was super embarrassing. Here he was, being held by a buff blonde glasses dude whining about stupid nightmares. He felt like he'd regressed by about twelve years. Percy really needed to pull it together. Lifting his face from Jason's shoulder, he sat back and took a deep breath.

"I know, dude. And I'm gonna help you through this, alright? If you'll let me anyway." Jason said, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"I know, I know. And I know you're right about it just being a dream… it just… felt so real."

Jason pulled Percy towards him, but this time into a hug instead of a face-shoulder embrace. "Hey, you're gonna be alright. Both you and Annabeth. I'll never know what you went through down there, but if you need anybody to talk to, I'm your guy. That goes for Nico too."

Percy hugged him back, honestly so grateful for Jason being there.

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The next morning, Percy woke up in his own cabin and found himself seemingly free of nightmares. He stretched his arms out, feeling rested for the first time in what seemed like ages. Maybe talking to Jason really had done some good; even with the image of Leo on his knees still etched into his brain.

Getting dressed quickly, he made his way out of Cabin Three and outside into the dusty sunshine of morning. The camp was slowly awakening, only a few campers already out and about. Looking out across the field, Percy could see movement around the Athena Cabin, and decided he should check on Annabeth.

After Tartarus, Percy's Ultra-Super-Protective senses had been activated when it came to Annabeth. He almost lost her way too many times for comfort. They were practically soulmates for life, best friends since they were twelve, lovers since they were sixteen.

As he neared the cabin, he could hear the distinct sound of the shuffling of papers and chatting of campers from inside the walls. The door opened as he got closer, revealing a familiar head of cascading blonde princess curls.

"Hey, Wise Girl." Percy smiled as she turned around and grinned back.

"Seaweed Brain, you're up early." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah," He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, "I guess so."

Annabeth grinned at him again before lacing her fingers through his. He gently tugged her behind the cabin, her face showing the telltale signs of confusion as he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Listen…So I was talking to Jason last night, and he heard from Piper that you told her your nightmares are getting worse." Percy said in a lowered voice, making sure that nobody could hear them, even though they were alone behind the Athena Cabin.

Annabeth took a deep breath, running her thumb over Percy's knuckles, "I mean, I guess it's been getting worse, but it's really not a big deal, Percy, it's nothing I can't handle."

Percy leaned in and kissed her chastely, pulling back and putting his hands on either side of her face, "Alright, but still, tell me if it gets any worse."

Annabeth gave him a little smile, reaching up and running her hand through his hair, "Same goes for you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy smiled back at her and fought the urge to cross his fingers behind his back, "Definitely."

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The day continued peacefully, nothing out of the ordinary happening throughout the day. Percy and Annabeth usually went through their days like this - only leaving each other's side when they needed to. They were both too paranoid, but never let it show in front of the campers. To anyone except their close friends, they were the picture perfect calm and collected couple. Percy was okay with that.

After the day was over and after Percy had kissed Annabeth goodnight, he found himself staring at his reflection again back in Cabin Three. His eyes were no longer red, upon inspection, but he was still thinking about what Annabeth had said.

When they had gone to the dining pavilion for lunch, Annabeth had brought up Tartarus one last time. She told him she had done some research and nosed around in records of demigods who had been to Tartarus and back. The list was obviously very limited, the most recent besides Percy, Annabeth, and Nico was sometime around 100 AD.

Anyway, the most disturbing thing that Annabeth discovered was records that said things about the after-effects of surviving through Tartarus. Apparently, survivors had begun to show signs of a strange kind of sickness a few months after their return. Unfortunately, there was no other information besides that.

It was slightly worrying, but with any luck, whatever sickness it was wouldn't affect him or Annabeth. There were plenty of demigods thousands of years before them who had been down there for way longer.

He realized suddenly with a start that he didn't actually know how long Nico had been in Tartarus. The question never really crossed his mind before now. What if Nico was sick or something? Could Hades kids get sick? He wasn't sure, but he had to find out. As soon as possible, which meant tomorrow. Percy slowly walked back into the main room, sinking down onto his mattress. There was a chance that Nico hadn't just been in Jason's room to listen to his breathing. He could have been coming to Jason to get help or something. Percy scratched his head. Nico would long be in New Rome by now. Tomorrow he could Iris Message him and see if he was okay. Yeah. Percy shuffled himself under the covers, praying to the Gods that he'd have no nightmares tonight.

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Percy's prayers were answered. Well, kind of. His dream started out with a girl looking out from an island. The island was vaguely familiar to Percy, like he'd been there before, a really long time ago. The girl waved up at the sky as the scene changed, this time to Leo sitting on the beach, grinning at someone out of Percy's line of sight. Leo jumped to his feet suddenly, gesturing to the hidden person to follow him before he looked straight at Percy and gave him a thumbs up.

Leo moved in slow motion and in a voice that sounded like it was underwater, he said, "I'll be home soon."

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Percy jolted awake, sitting up and breathing fast, staring down at his hands. That was one of the most peaceful yet eerie dreams he's had to date. Was this dream about Leo also some sort of illusion made up by his mind? Or was it a sign? That Leo was actually still alive or something. Percy swung his legs out of bed, noticing with a glance out the window that it was even earlier than the day before. Damn. He wasn't even a morning person. Maybe he really was sick.

The worst part was, he wasn't even tired. Shrugging and changing into a simple CHB tee and shorts, he made his way barefoot out of his cabin. As he shut the door behind him and breathed in the cool morning air, he started walking towards the lake.

If there was anywhere that could calm his thoughts and fears about small Latino ADHD demigods, it was the lake. The water would sooth his mind and maybe even help him figure his dreams out.

First off, on the very probable suspicion that the dream was just his imagination playing tricks on him, that was just plain cruel. On the other hand, if it was an actual demigod-power-influenced dream, then the chances of Leo actually being alive and trying to return to Camp Half-Blood were very real.

Percy realized with a frown that he'd had not one but two consecutive dreams about the mechanic in the past few days. They'd never really been close, especially because initially Leo hadn't made a very good impression on Percy at all. They'd only really talked a few times, and while they were on good terms, they weren't exactly BFFS. Well, when he was alive at least. Unless his dreams were real and Leo was alive. Unless his dreams were messing with him. Unless…. Percy really needed to stop thinking, he was making his brain hurt.

He reached the edge of the lake, taking one of the ropes from a canoe and untying it. He climbed in, tucking the rope underneath one of the seats. Percy settled himself on the center seat, feeling the broad, well-sanded wood beneath his fingertips. He closed his deep sea green eyes, willing the water around the canoe to take it out into the lake. With a pull in his gut, the small boat dipped into the water, rocking lazily as Percy hoisted the oars into motion.

Yeah, he could probably more easily just move the canoe through the water by will, but he wasn't really feeling it right now. He wanted to feel the oars on his hands, a pressure like an anchor keeping him grounded.

Percy sailed far out onto the water, letting the canoe slow to an easy lulled wade. He breathed in the deep smell of water and algae. Percy rubbed one of his thumbs in circles on one of the oars. There was nothing he wished for more than to just have everything go back to normal. If there was one thing Percy missed most, it was probably the ability to relax. It had been a few months since his descent already, and though he was doing better than he had when he emerged, it still wasn't the same. Nevertheless, Percy wasn't one to mope. In private, maybe, but never in public. He'd never let one bad thing that happened ruin him, no matter how bad it was. He had to stay unbreakable, indomitable, for his friends.

Percy let his gaze wander over the surface of the lake. Sleepy multicolored fish came up tentatively to the side of the small boat, mouthing the wood before swimming away. Bits and pieces of long freshwater seaweed could vaguely be seen below the water's surface, waving slowly as if saying hello to the son of Poseidon. The sun was still dipped halfway under the strawberry fields. A peaceful morning. Percy turned his head as he heard the yawning of naiads, who noticed him and gave him their cute flirty little half-waves as they giggled sleepily amongst themselves. Percy gave them a small smile and wave before stretching out his arms in the morning sun.

The calm of the water and atmosphere really did calm his nerves. He was feeling more at ease than he had in months. Percy was grateful for that.

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Percy realized he'd dozed off about three seconds after waking up. He glanced around blearily, noticing it was only slightly lighter and warmer than when he had nodded off, which meant he was only napping for about a half an hour or less. Grabbing the oars, he decided it was time to return to shore and sat up.

The pain hit him before his mind could even register. Percy doubled over unwillingly, the canoe rocking with his movement. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, a pain starting in his gut and slowly, excruciatingly, spreading both upwards and downwards. He let go of the oars frantically and gripped the side of the boat as his other arm circled his middle. What was going on? Both his mind and body screamed as he entered a form of panic. He needed to get to shore, get to Annabeth, Chiron, someone, anyone. It didn't matter as long as it was before his insides exploded or something. Desperately, Percy tried moving the canoe by will, nothing happening except more pain and the lake erupting into waves. He couldn't control his power. Great. Maybe the water would help? Yeah. His brain was getting increasingly more hazy with searing pain. Son of Posiedon. Water. Son of Posiedon plus water equals good.

"Please, please, pleasepleaseplease_please_," Percy gritted out of his teeth as he jerkily shoved his hand off the side of the boat and into the water. He was gonna need to get his whole body in somehow. He tried to stand up, his vision swimming as he tasted a warm metallic substance in his mouth. Great. This whole experience was wonderful. Percy coughed suddenly, his chest contracting painfully. His hands flew to his mouth as he leaned over himself and his shaking legs tried to support him. The coughs wracked him like he was being hit over and over, he felt like a big sickly punching bag. When he could finally breathe, he pulled his hands off his mouth to find them coated in blood. Hooooly Shit. This was bad. Like on a scale of Piper-Forgot-To-Turn-Off-Her-Charmspeak bad to Jason-Fell-Asleep-MidFlight-Again bad, this was somewhere around the second option. Except worse. At least Percy thought it was worse.

His dizzy vision could make out a few naiads pointing in concern at him but suddenly there was no sound. Just him and the feeling of being torn to shreds. Rest in peace, Perseus Jackson, died at the age of 17, from stomach pains, he thought blearily.

Wait. The water began to thrash beneath the boat as Percy's eyes widened and he felt a shiver down his spine. Was this the sickness Annabeth mentioned? Percy coughed again, blood pouring from his mouth. He needed to get into the water. ASAP. _Now_. He stood up as best he could, finding the edge of the canoe with difficulty. Glancing up, he found the source of the waves that rocked the tiny boat.

A bronze dragon, thrashing around the water, the world still silent to Percy's ears. He stumbled as the boat rocked more as he blinked rapidly. He was starting to feel increasingly nauseous. What was he about to do just now? Why was he out on the lake? What was happening? Percy sputtered more blood out of his mouth. He didn't know where he was. The world felt like it was turning upside down. Percy felt his arm jerk to the side, someone was in front of him. He looked through lidded eyes at a familiar face. _Leo?_ What was he doing here? Wasn't he _dead?_ Percy blinked slowly as the brown eyed boy began to silently shout at him. Percy felt like he was watching a film, not even feeling himself begin to sway or the pressure of Leo's hands on his shoulders. The pain in his belly was white hot, so blistering he wasn't sure anymore if it was hot or cold. He must be dreaming, or something. Leo continued to shake him and scream in slow motion, his eyes wild with panic. Percy couldn't understand why. Was this Leo an illusion? Wasn't Leo in Tartarus? Yeah…in Tartarus. Because Percy ran him through with a sword. He really should apologize for that.

Percy's vision went from double to triple, and the last thing he saw was Leo desperately trying to get him to respond when the world turned inside out and he began to fall in slow motion. Tartarus. He was falling into Tartarus, the thought echoed without sound through his skull. Falling down, down, down. Again.

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Alright thanks for reading! Leave reviews and let me know what you think (should I continue it or nah, basically)


	2. A Really, Really, Really Long Day

**author note:**

alright! here's chapter two! this chapter is a little shorter than chapter one and might feel a little like filler (sorry about that!) but i swear it's leading up to future events!

**Falling Down - Chapter 2**

**A Really, Really, Really Long Day**

His eyes opened to dim light filtering in through an open window, fresh air drifting in and caressing his face.

As he came to, there were only a few things Percy was absolutely sure of. Firstly, he was in the infirmary in the Big House. Secondly, he had a very limited understanding of why (judging by the IV drip in his arm and several bandages around his middle, he was injured somehow). And last of all, he either had the strangest dream of all ages or the Hazel gave Leo some tips on zombie-ism.

He shifted so he was buried deeper in the sheets, taking deep calming breaths. He'd been a total and complete mess on and off these couple days, and it wasn't really his style. Percy bit his lip in frustration, closing his eyes. He didn't even know why he was in here. Probably cause he hit his head during a spar or something. If he kept this up he'd create a legend of uselessness so great it would rival the time when Jason got hit in the face by a brick. Percy laughed dryly to himself. Jason and his brick, a beautiful love story, you could say they really connected.

Percy opened his eyes as he heard booming and crashing from the room outside the infirmary. A familiar blonde head of curls peeked in the door. Percy let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Percy! What are you doing?! Why didn't you tell anyone you were awake?!" That familiar blonde head of curls scolded, scrambling through the doorway.

Ah, yes, thank the gods for Annabeth Chase.

"Sorry," Percy grinned, "Getting knocked out takes a toll on remembering to do things like that."

Annabeth grimaced a little at that, coming next to the bedside, "Percy… you didn't get knocked out."

"What do you mean?"

"You, uh," She shrugged one of her shoulders, playing with a lock of her hair absentmindedly, "I don't know exactly what happened, I was hoping you'd remember something so we could try and fi-"

"Annabeth. What's going on."

Annabeth looked like she was trying to remain calm now, "When they brought you in, you were in really bad shape. Like… Oh, I'll just show you."

Annabeth's hands pulled back the sheets and moved slowly to the bandages across his middle. Percy watched in cold anticipation as she pulled back the cloths and revealed what was underneath.

Bruises. Deep, black and purple bruises. And red lines that looked like his guts were scratched from the inside out. It kind of reminded him of some of horror movie about aliens living in people's bodies. Percy's breath caught. So the pain wasn't a dream.

"What…..what does it mean?" Percy asked tentatively, very gently prodding the marks as Annabeth swatted his hand and replaced the bandages.

"It means our time in Tartarus is having more than just mental affects on you…Remember the fire water from the river we drank to stay alive? I'm suspecting the residue from it and whatever amount your body absorbed is… attacking your organs." Annabeth said, sounding extremely levelheaded, but Percy could tell from experience that she was struggling to stay calm.

"Okay, that's a lot to take in. But like, why is it _just_ me? Shouldn't it be happening to you? Or Nico?"

"Well, for now I'm assuming it's because you took in more of it than I did. When you like, almost drowned, and all." She said that part with a wince, "And Nico probably because he's hardwired for underworld stuff, and also maybe the pomegranates he ate in that jar neutralized it."

"Huh." Surprisingly, he wasn't feeling panicked. Maybe the feelings would come later because he was in shock or something. Or maybe he was on painkillers. Could be either. Annabeth, however looked worlds more anxious than Percy was. She'd started to play with his hair instead of her own.

"But yeah. We've already given you nectar and ambrosia and mortal painkillers. Any more of any of that shit and bad stuff would happen." She said, answering his suspicions, "We've been working on bringing in some more medicines these couple days and we've even considered asking Apollo to come down-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second here, Wise Girl. How many days are we talking about here?"

"You've been asleep for a week, Percy. Didn't I mention that?"

"No."

"We didn't know what to do at first because here comes Leo to the Big House, scaring the living daylights out of everyone, and if that wasn't enough; he's terrified and yelling and carrying _you_ like you were dead or something with your head hanging over his arm like sleeping beauty gone wrong." Annabeth didn't notice immediately that Percy had gone still at the mention of Leo's name, "There was so much blood…" She trailed off, looking off into the distance as if remembering it.

So Leo really was alive. And at camp. It wasn't a dream. Holy shit.

"Leo's alive." Percy deadpanned.

"Leo's alive." Annabeth agreed softly.

"Leo's alive…" Percy repeated quietly, as if trying to convince himself. Memories of the previous events attacked Percy's mind like a tidal wave. The intensity of what happened began to hit him. Leo was alive and home with them. Percy was probably dying and would be dead already if Leo hadn't saved him. He willed his breath not to speed up. Heroes were calm and collected, even in the face of danger. And especially in the face of strange Tartarus mystery sicknesses.

"Calypso's here too." Annabeth said with a little smile, "She might be able to help you. You know, with weird goddess powers or something."

"…Yeah." Percy whispered, suddenly feeling more weak and helpless than he had been in a very long time. It made him uncomfortable.

"…Alright," Annabeth said softly, Percy knew that she knew him well enough to be able to read his emotions from his body language, "I'll come check on you later, okay Seaweed Brain? Don't leave the infirmary either, no hero stuff, alright?"

Annabeth gave him a little smile before pressing her lips to his ear, "I love you," she whispered, before walking quietly out the door and shutting it behind her.

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Percy spent the rest of the afternoon rotating between dozing off and staring into space, with little interruptions that consisted of Annabeth checking on him. It was like limbo. A really slow limbo with not enough to do and too much to think about.

He spent his time examining the infirmary room. He sitting up in the bed, he noted that the room was a dull pastel yellow color. It reminded Percy of snot. The Infirmary wasn't very spacious, but still had room for about five other medical beds along with med stations positioned along the walls. The Apollo campers certainly marked their territory too, especially with the decorations. Bows and quivers were piled by the doors, and Percy spotted a stray trumpet by his foot.

A big poster of Apollo giving a thumbs smiled down at Percy from the wall with teeth so white they could blind a bat. He was standing with the sun behind his back and with a caption of, _'Welcome to the Infirmary! If you're here, you're probably injured and/or dying! Congratulations!'._

Percy raised his eyebrows. Well, at least they didn't beat around the bush.

Truth be told, the only reason Percy wasn't sleeping right now was because he was too afraid to. What if something bad happened again? He took off the IV, lifted his shirt and pulled down the bandages tentatively. Still bruised, still red. Still terrifying.

He pulled the bandages back into place and pushed his shirt back down. He wasn't in the clothes he last remembered wearing, now he was in a plain white t-shirt and baby blue thunderbolt boxers. Wait._ Thunderbolts?_ Did that mean… oh Gods. Percy felt his face turn bright red as the realization that somebody had undressed and redressed his unconscious body. And instead of getting his clothes, they put him in Jason's clothes. Oh no, not just his _clothes_, his _goddamn underwear_.

So in short, he was quite literally, in Jason's pants. Percy wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Turning back to the bed he was sitting on, Percy found that he overlooked yet another big detail about his new Infirmary living arrangements. An envelope sat on the pillow he'd originally been snoozing on. The pillow was nothing out of the ordinary, but the sheets were a different story. Bright pink, soft, comfortable, warm, _'Baby's First Blankie'_ written in huge flourishing cursive across the center. Percy resisted the urge to slam his face into the wall and stared blankly, picking up the envelope and ripping it open, unfolding the paper inside.

_'Dear Peter Jackson,_

_As you have most likely not noticed, you have been admitted to the Camp Infirmary. You are not permitted to leave until you are deemed well enough to be introduced back to society, or if you die. Have a spectacular day! :)_

_-D'_

Percy groaned out loud, throwing himself down on his princess pink Baby's First Blankie.

It was gonna be a long day.

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It was a few hours later before anyone checked in on him again, so when there was a little knock on the Infirmary door Percy got a little more excited for company than he'd like to admit.

To his surprise, it wasn't Annabeth this time.

Will Solace strolled into the room, holding a clipboard and grinning with good nature at Percy. Percy, who was now sitting on the back corner of the bunk, gave him a smile back.

"Hey, Will."

"Hey, Percy, how ya doin'?" Will asked, placing the clipboard down on the bed and sitting down with it. "I'm just checking up on you, I was gonna do it when Annabeth told me you were awake but I figured I'd give you some time to wake up."

Percy felt like he had to force himself to keep smiling. Sure, Will was an alright guy. He knew that Nico seemed to think pretty well of him, but in all honesty, Percy wasn't sure he completely trusted Nico's judge of character. Ever since the Labyrinth years ago…Yeah. Nico wound up putting his trust with some pretty shady characters. Will had helped a lot in New York during the war with Kronos though, and he was the Apollo counselor, so Percy decided that at least should count for something.

But still. There was something about Will's smile that seemed off to the son of Poseidon and he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was.

"Thanks man. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it." Will said, flipping through the papers on his clipboard, "It's good you're awake though, your friends were worried sick, ya know?"

Speaking of his friends, Percy realized that Annabeth had been the only one to come and see him while he was awake.

"So uh… where are they then? My friends, I mean." He asked, just a little tentatively.

"You're probably wondering why they haven't come to see you, huh?" Will flourished his pen and held it diligently in the air, "You're banned from visitors until we make sure you're stable. Except Annabeth cause she's impossible to control and would have pummeled me if i didn't let her. Doctor's orders!"

Huh. That made sense.

"So, I'm here to check up on you and make sure you're stable. So now I gotta do some stuff thats gonna feel weird."

Percy assumed he was used to the adjective 'weird', but still wasn't pleasantly surprised when Will started prodding his stomach after instructing him to take off his shirt and lay down.

It was painful, each prod gave Percy a little jolt, like a sharp blade. Will's face contorted in concentration as he produced a stethoscope out of seemingly nowhere and pressed the cold object to Percy's heart, and then his lungs, prodding all the way.

The son of Poseidon almost sighed in relief when Will finally removed his hand from Percy's stomach and retrieved a vial of clear liquid from a side table. He uncorked it and poured it over Percy's belly. Percy knew it was saltwater from the moment it toughed his skin, sending clear and calming sensations through his body, replacing the hot pain of the injuries on his middle with cool relief.

"It looks like you're gonna be alright," Will said, picking up his clipboard and scribbling some stuff down. "The injuries you sustained are definitely bad but no longer life-threatening. Just take it easy."

"Uhh…okay, that's good." Percy said, sitting up. "Not life-threatening is good"

Will gave him another smile, Percy thought the freckles that splashed against his tanned dark skin made him look increasingly more like Apollo by the second. "That means having visitors is allowed now. And so is food."

Percy realized with a start that he was starving. How did he forget that? Maybe he really was losing it.

"So, yeah, I'll send somebody in with food and stuff in just a little bit." Will packed up his stethoscope, "Yell if you need anything."

"I will." Percy said, pulling his shirt back on gingerly to avoid jostling his middle as much as possible. Percy's 'I will' was probably as credible as Nico's 'I will', meaning he would absolutely definitely not. His stomach was probably going to be sore from all the poking and prodding though. Fantastic.

Will started walking towards the door, "And let me know as soon as possible if you have another attack," He opened the door, "I'll be back tomorrow to check on you again. Seeya, Percy."

"Later, dude."

Percy was secretly relieved when Will disappeared out the door.

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While he was waiting for his next visitor, (who hopefully was gonna bring food with them), Percy sat next to the window and stared out at the camp grounds.

He was starting to feel restless, especially while watching the camp go through its daily activities. There was nothing he loathed more than feeling like he couldn't do anything - which was exactly what he was feeling like. He was almost jealous of the campers he was watching who were currently getting pelted with berries by angry dryads. Scratch that. At this point he was jealous of almost everything that existed outside of this room.

His thoughts were abruptly cut off when there was a knock on his door, and Percy could have sworn his stomach leapt for joy.

Hazel walked in with a huge smile on her face. The daughter of Pluto was (thankfully) carrying a tray full of food that was already making Percy's mouth water. If Hazel was here that meant Frank was here too, also probably Nico. And if Nico was here that meant there was a possibility that Reyna was here too.

Percy didn't know how much Reyna knew about Tartarus, but she was one of the smartest people he knew. Besides Annabeth of course. The day he met someone smarter than his girlfriend was the day Leo gave up Fonzies.

Speaking of Leo, Percy's eyes widened as the curly haired mechanic appeared in the doorway.

Having the knowledge that Leo was alive wasn't exactly the same experience as seeing him alive in the flesh. Well, seeing him in the flesh while lucid and not bleeding to death.

All at the same time, Percy's memories of his nightmares attacked his consciousness. Standing in the red haze. Leo on the ground. Leo covered in blood. Percy shook his head, trying to clear it. Leo's face was looking increasingly more distorted. Suddenly riptide was through his middle. Percy's breath sped up, his pupils dilating.

"Percy….? Percy!"

Percy felt a hand on his face and he was suddenly back in reality, staring into Hazel's worried golden eyes.

"Oh! Sorry, just spaced out I guess." Percy laughed, rubbing his neck. He internally punched himself. Way to go, Kelp-brain.

"Man, don't _do_ that! You already scared me half to death once." Percy turned his gaze to Leo, who was now walking into the room, his impish grin spread across his face.

Leo made his way over to Percy's medical bed and flopped down next to him. "I'm glad you're not like, in a death coma anymore, cause - oh boy - was that scary. You shoulda seen Annabeth." He whistled, raising his eyebrows. "She's like a bear, all pr-"

Leo stopped abruptly, Percy saw Hazel giving him a "shut up" look out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned his head towards her she only smiled. Percy felt a prickle of annoyance. He didn't need them to censor what was going on - he hated being treated like he was fragile.

"But yeah, we brought you some food. Figured you're probably starving." Hazel chirped, holding the tray out to him.

Percy's annoyance vanished in a flash. Food now, problems later.

He practically wolfed down the meal, which consisted of all kinds of the healthy things he loved like fries and blue coke and two huge cheeseburgers that Percy could swear were singing his name. He briefly remembered when Nico summoned the dead with Happy Meals. He didn't doubt that if he was dead, he could be very easily summoned with a Big Mac.

As he ate, Hazel and Leo fell into conversation with him, telling him about how the camp was going. Telling him about everyone's reactions to Leo and Calypso's sudden appearance and their journey here.

Percy really wanted to ask about Calypso, but it was kind of hard to do that around a mouthful of fries and a Leo who didn't look like he was shutting up anytime soon.

"Oh, man! You should have seen the look on Calypso's face when we took off on Festus. I'm surprised she didn't pee herself." Leo snatched himself a fry from Percy, who sent a good-natured glare at him. "Of course we surprised everyone, especially when you-"

Leo stopped himself again when Hazel sent him another look. Percy's nerves scraped against each other so hard he felt every bit of water in the room tremble.

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Later, after Percy's belly was full and Leo and Hazel had said goodnight to him, Percy found himself staring out the open window again.

He sighed, looking out to the Poseidon Cabin. Where was his dad right now? What was he thinking about? He wanted to know what he thought about everything, about Percy, about Tartarus, about...All this. He sighed, leaning back. There were times he wished his dad was around. Or even took the time to contact him or something. Like, even a postcard would be fine. Even a _'Hi, son! Looks like you might be dying - this time for real! Cool!'_ would be better than nothing.

His mind kept traveling back to when Leo had walked into the room earlier. He'd been captured by the memories of that dream…. Percy shook his head, blinking his green eyes. It was just stress, probably. Hopefully. He needed to stop this bad new habit of over-thinking everything.

Moping wasn't his forte - at all. Percy wasn't good at bad thoughts, so the incessant dark feelings felt overwhelming. He felt similar to back on the quest when he was overcome with the fear of drowning. That was scary - not the blood-pumping, adrenaline gushing, fun kind of scary. Being afraid of drowning as a son of Poseidon was something so scary he wasn't exactly sure how to put it into words. Percy didn't like scary things, complicated things, or confusing things. Both that instance and the current one fit all of those categories.

Percy sighed. He missed Annabeth too. Maybe he should just go to bed and brave the nightmares.

Percy saw a flicker out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly his window was full of brown hair and orange t-shirt. He of course, made a very manly squeak and fell backwards off the bed. Laughter sounded from above.

Percy looked up, catching the glint of kaleidoscope eyes and feathers sticking out of unruly brown hair. Only Piper would use the window instead of the door like a normal person.

Percy sat up, running his hand through his dark hair, "Piper, it's like eleven o'clock. I need to get my beauty sleep, remember? Baby's First Blankie is calling me."

Piper sat her ass down on Baby's First Blankie. "Not so fast, Aquaman. I'm here to ensure a nightmare free, once in a lifetime experience, no strings attached, best sleep of your entire life. For a whopping fee of absolutely free."

"…Huh?"

"Percy, I'm trying to say I'm gonna charmspeak you into having no nightmares while you sleep."

"Oh. Neat." Percy said, lifting himself off the floor. "That's actually…really nice of you, Piper. Thanks."

She smiled, patting the pillow, "Don't mention it! Now come here."

Percy climbed over into the bedsheets as Piper hopped off. If Percy wasn't feeling dead tired, this would probably have been mortally embarrassing. Somewhere in the back of his tired mind he knew that.

Piper suddenly looked like she wanted to say something. She nibbled her bottom lip as if she wasn't sure how to say it.

He propped himself up on his elbow, "Uhh…you don't have to if you don't want to. I completely understand. Talking me to sleep like I'm four years old doesn't exactly sound like the most exciting thing in the world to me either." Percy said.

"No, no, it's not that. Percy, just… Leo might act tough about it but really…when he found you he was so scared. We all were…but he….I just want you to know we're all here for you. We'll fix this. Even if it's...not the way you want." Piper said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Piper, w-"

"No…don't talk. You need to sleep."

Percy could physically feel the charmspeak melting off her words into his brain. He wanted to tell her that he was sorry for scaring all of them and that he'd be fine and they shouldn't worry themselves over it. He wanted to ask what she meant about _'Even if it's not the way you want'_. but Piper's charmspeak felt like warm honey drowning out his words, making his eyes heavy and mouth thick.

He saw Piper say a few more words but he was too tired to comprehend them. His body felt like lead, his eyelids closed shut by themselves. Drowsiness crashed over him like strong waves pulling him out to sea, unable to fight back against the current . Percy felt the warm numbness wash over him, a blanket of honeyed venom, pulling him under.

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okay! thats the end of this chapter! I'll try to have the next one out as soon as possible!

don't forget to review and leave ideas for future chapters or just to tell me what you thought!

thanks for reading!


	3. Everything Sucks A Whole Lot

**author note:**

sorry for the wait, everyone! things move back into motion in this chapter. also, just as a warning there is very slight (almost unnoticeable) jasico in this chapter, but don't worry! relationship-wise this fic is going to stay pretty close to the books with a little bit of other stuff here and there

Also, as a side note, starting from here the chapters might include multiple pov's!

**Falling Down - Chapter 3**

**Everything Sucks A Whole Lot**

He was underwater. Voices filtered in and out in waves of sound, muffled by the pressure of the water against his ears. It was peaceful, he let himself drift through the undercurrent, breathing in clear and clean saltwater. His eyes were closed, and he didn't feel any need to open them. Schools of fish brushed past his arms, flying through the ocean like birds drifting on the air. In his mind's eye, he saw them - all different kinds and all different colors.

Percy breathed in deep, the cool sensation of water filling his lungs sending calming vibes through his entire body. Nothing was more peaceful for him. Here, in his father's safe domain, surrounded by schools of spectacularly colored fish who instinctively knew him only as the prince of the ocean.

The scene then started to change. The fish were the first to go. They started to get uglier. Eyes started to bulge, colors started to dull into a musky gray. Way more ugly than Percy was used to seeing, and that was saying something considering he saw Coach Hedge on a weekly basis.

The fish opened their mouths, and Percy watched as they grew razor-sharp, knife-like teeth. The insides of their mouths looked like a dentist's worst nightmare.

Percy knew he was in trouble from the moment his mind's eye saw their bulging white eyes turn towards him. He tried to thrash but his body felt immobilized - Percy's panic was rising quickly. The piranha-wannabes focused in on his left arm, and words began to spill from their mouths. Well, not words, more like just one word over and over. _Perseus, Perseus,_ they rasped. Percy wished his voice was working so he could whisper back, _Fuck off, Fuck off._

They drew closer and closer, brushing against his skin and breathing their chants down his neck. Percy tried to will the water to sweep them away, but even as his gut pulled, the water stayed still. The fish let out raspy laughs, as if to mock him,_ Your daddy can't save you now, Jackson._

Suddenly everything around him stopped, as if the water turned to ice and froze right down to the depths. The scene started melting away, slowly, like crayons melting in the sun over a blank canvas.

The colors, forms, and shapes all dripped into different ones. Voices drifted in and out like breezes, coming and going. The sudden change lasted for an infinity, the silence stretching on into a vast and open forever.

Percy felt a sharp prick on his arm, and the world exploded.

As it turns out, the piranhas weren't piranhas at all. Percy's eyes wrenched open and he found himself staring into the grotesque eyes of an Arai, it's teeth already embedded deep into his left arm. His rising panic hit it's peak, and he screamed.

The Arai, the monsters in Tartarus that had quite literally made Percy pay for his sins. His mind flashed rapidly with memories of Annabeth being blinded, getting his guts stabbed through, feeling as abandoned and hurt as Calypso had felt when he left her. Countless other memories of curses and torture flooded Percy's vision.

Percy turned with frightened vigor and punched it square between it's eyes, feeling a sharp crack underneath his knuckles. The scene had changed again and he was now in what looked like a pasty yellow med room, but he didn't stop to examine the rest. This was just another one of Tartarus' tricks. He needed to get out, out, _out_. Out before he had to endure more of the Arai's torture.

"Gah!" The Arai he punched shouted, it's form morphing as it drew back.

Percy didn't waste any time. He scrambled out of the…bed? Why was he on a bed? He didn't have time for explanations. Percy needed to find Annabeth, _now_. What if some monster had gotten her? What if she was lost in Nyx's house? What if..what if what if what if what if-

"Percy, wait!"

Percy's mind raced on overload as he punched out the window, leaping through it and tumbling outside onto damp grass. Grass. Grass, Tartarus didn't have grass, did it? Was he trapped in an illusion? He needed to find Annabeth. And Bob.

But what if Bob decided that he didn't want to help them again? What if Bob split them up in the first place? No, no, no, Bob wouldn't do that. Bob was on their side. He needed to trust him. And find him. He was their only chance to someday see daylight again. To Percy, being alone all by himself in Tartarus sounded scarier than any monster.

He ran, trying not to trip over himself. Why wasn't his body moving right? Percy stopped running, staring around himself blankly. Cabins. Strawberry fields. Flaming rock wall. He was at the dining pavilion. Camp Half-Blood. This was Camp Half-Blood. No, no, it couldn't be. Unless…unless it was another illusion, or maybe the camp got transferred somehow down to the depths. Percy heard whispers in his ears. He grabbed his head with both hands.

A tap on his shoulder sent his instincts into motion, he spun and hooked the newcomer in his arm and threw them, breathing heavily and quickly. His demigod battle instincts were immediately set into play.

The person hit the floor with a grunt, and Percy eyed him suspiciously. Whoever it was, radiated death. A god, maybe? Some kind of monster, damned to a life in Tartarus? Time seemed to move either very quickly or very slowly. One moment the figure on the ground was very slowly and fluidly shifting, and the next moment he was already sitting up. Percy moved backwards in slow motion, standing so there was a picnic table in-between demigod and monster.

"Perc- Percy, listen to me." The monster said, now standing up very slowly, "You need to take a deep breath and listen to me."

"No, You, you need to tell me where you're keeping Annabeth." Percy demanded. Everything sounded like it was underwater, the world was swaying a little bit. He stumbled due to the vertigo.

"Annabeth is fine, Percy." The being now had his hands raised in front of his body, Percy couldn't make out what his face looked like. "You're in Camp Half-Blood and you're safe."

"No." Percy wasn't even sure what he was saying no to, because the words the monster was speaking were blurring together. Almost like a big blender of words all chopped together.

Another person entered his field of vision, going directly to the death monster. Percy's internal alarms started going off. Two enemies were much worse than one, and he didn't have a weapon to defend himself with. Percy's breath sped up as he lowered into a defensive stance. He couldn't fight both of them, not without Annabeth. Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. Without another thought, Percy turned and ran away as fast as he could.

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_(Nico POV)_

Nico's mind blanked as he watched the son of Poseidon high tail his ass away so fast it made his head spin. Or maybe his head was just spinning because said son of Poseidon just ninja threw him onto the pavement. But anyway, this was bad. On the scale of badness, this was like, way bad. Okay, okay, maybe 'way bad' wasn't the most creative metaphor for the badness he was experiencing, but Nico was never one to spend unnecessary time on that kind of creative thinking.

When Nico first heard about the incident on the lake - let's get serious - it wasn't the kind of news that gave you a nice fuzzy feeling inside. He had rushed to the infirmary as fast as his shadow travel could carry him. Of course, Will wouldn't let him into the room no matter how large of a temper tantrum he threw. And really, on the magnitude scale of temper tantrums, he could have rivaled an earthquake.

"Dammit," Jason said beside him, snapping the son of Hades out of his thoughts. The blonde superman was hurriedly dusting off Nico's bomber jacket as he watched Percy's form grow smaller and smaller, "I don't know what happened. First thing he's sleeping like a log and the second we go to give him medicine that might actually help him, he wakes up, freaks out, punches me in the face, and then jumps out the window."

"What?" Nico asked, feeling a flare of annoyance and turning to Jason, "Dude, he's not just 'freaking out', he's hav-"

"Having a flashback due to his irresponsibly untreated PTSD. Yeah, I know." A feminine voice rang, cutting Nico's words right off. Calypso came up beside Jason, staring off towards the woods, where Percy had barreled into and disappeared only minutes before.

"_You _know, that doesn't mean _superman_ over here does." Nico grumbled, dusting off his pants. He gave Calypso a dirty look. It wasn't as if he hated Leo's girlfriend, he just…didn't like her that much. He felt a strange sense of rivalry with her. Nico would never admit it out loud, but he suspected that Percy was the reason behind that rivalry. Not that he still felt anything for him of course. Old habits just die hard. Speaking of Percy, though, he already felt a pavement-shaped bruise forming on his cheek.

"What does that mean, though?" Jason questioned. Nico almost slammed his face back down into the pavilion pavement. Jason was probably the thickest person he'd ever met. Besides Percy. Okay, maybe Jason's head was just a tad thicker than Percy's.

"It means we need to get to him before it triggers another episode; possibly worse than last time."

Calypso's words rang through Nico's thin body like a bells in a church. If that was true, they needed to do something - fast. If anyone knew anything about what could possibly help Percy, it was probably Calypso. The goddess probably learned about a lot of different things during her long infinity on Ogygia. There was a chance she'd run into something similar to his case before.

Maybe Percy and Nico's relationship had been slightly rocky over the years, especially when Nico had a crush on Percy, but anyway, that didn't matter. The past was the past and that was that. What mattered now was that Percy was in big trouble.

Nico turned to the both of them, curling his hands into fists. "We need to find Annabeth."

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_(Jason POV)_

The next thing he knew, Jason was running alongside Nico to the Athena Cabin as fast as his legs could carry him.

Calypso had gone the opposite way, stating she was going to find Leo. Hopefully she and Leo could head off Percy before he got lost or hurt in the woods. And possibly pick up other people to help along the way. Hopefully. Who knows how far he'd gotten already.

With that thought, Jason suddenly hooked his arm around Nico's scrawny middle, summoned the winds, and took flight. What was the point of trying to get somewhere fast, and not using the fastest way to get there? Needless to say, just the expression on the son of Hades' face and the squeak he made was worthy of an award itself.

"_Jason!_ What are you-" Nico just about screamed, the next thing he said was lost in the wind as they bulleted towards the large U-shape that made up the cabins. Jason had been getting way better at flying fast over the past month or so, since that was mostly how he traveled between camps. He could usually make it across the United States in just a few days. However, he wasn't very practiced in the art of flying fast while holding screaming flustered death princes who were trying their best to pull his hair out.

His feet brushed the ground as they neared their destination.

"Hold on tight, I dunno how this is gonna-"

Jason hit the ground as his balance faltered, immediately willing the little control he could manage over the wind to flip them so he was underneath Nico, shielding the smaller boy from all kinds of fun rocks and brush burn.

Jason pushed Nico's face into his chest and held onto him for dear life as his control snapped and they tumbled together across the ground, rolling over each other and finally slamming to a stop on something hard - that something hard being none other than the Athena Cabin's front door.

Jason immediately pushed a dazed-and-dirty-looking Nico upright, assessing the damage. Surprisingly to Jason, Nico looked fine if not just dirt-covered and still blinking away the dizziness of the crash landing.

"You okay?" Jason asked tentatively, giving his friend a little smile. Okay, yeah, crash landing like that might have been just a little embarrassing. And by just a little he meant a whole damn lot.

Nico reached his hands up and re-adjusted Jason's glasses. He was wearing his spare pair because Percy managed to break the lenses of his other pair with that punch to the face earlier in the morning. "I'm fine. I'm missing a shoe and I think I've just rolled in more dirt than i ever have in all my eighty plus years of life, but I'm fine."

Jason laughed, ruffling his hand through Nico's dark hair to get some of the dirt and grass out, "Sorry about that. Totally unintentional."

"Careful there, superman, any more head injuries and you're gonna be in the infirmary for life."

Jason smiled, tucking a piece of Nico's hair behind his ear. Nico's expression changed from begrudging humor to something different. The change was slight, almost unnoticeable, but Jason saw, and became increasingly aware of Nico's face. His dark eyes, dark lashes, pale but pink lips.

"Uh, so, yeah." Nico said suddenly, getting up off of the blonde's lap, and just at that moment the door opened.

"You guys…need something?" Annabeth asked from the doorway as Jason scrambled to his feet to stand beside Nico. "You look like you both just got beat up by Laistrygonians."

"You could say that." Nico said, shooting Jason a dark look. Whatever had happened just moments before had very obviously been a fragment of his imagination. Maybe he really did hit his head too hard. Jason rubbed the back of his head; the was no doubt in his mind there was gonna be a bruise there tomorrow.

"I've just been cleaning up this place a little bit. The amount of blueprints in here is unreal. I could probably make a pool out of them and swim in it." Annabeth sighed, brushing her hair over her shoulder, "I was gonna visit Percy in just a little bit though if you guys wanna come with. Also, Nico, you're missing a shoe."

"That's actually… the whole reason we're here." Jason said slowly.

"You're here because Nico's having footwear issues."

"No! No, It's Percy. We're here because Percy."

Annabeth's eyes widened, her tone grew tense. "What happened to Percy?"

The hot summer air around them felt like it grew colder. Maybe it was just Jason's nerves, bringing cool air currents down or something. Or it could be Nico. The both of them had a bad habit of making the air temperature colder in less-than-stellar situations. He shivered.

"He's having another attack." Jason heard himself say.

Annabeth's grey stormy eyes seemed to solidify into stone. "Like… right now?"

"Yeah, and that's why we need to leave. We've wasted too much time already." Nico said reaching out and grabbing Annabeth by the hand and taking the hem of Jason's sleeve in the other.

Annabeth nodded, the panic and haste clear on her face, "Is anyone with him right now?"

"Hopefully Calypso and Leo." Nico said, the shadows already gathering around him, "We're gonna shadow travel there. I don't know exactly where he is but I can guess."

"Alright. Good. Now let's get going."

With that, Jason felt himself get sucked into the shadows, the cold and chill of fear washing over him like a blanket. Jason didn't think he'd ever get used to the feeling of shadow travel. Sure it was a completely thrilling and adrenaline-pumping ride, but it also came with darker feelings that he didn't know how Nico was able to cope with. Feelings like emptiness, fear, anger, and loneliness.

He remembered when he found Percy having a nightmare in Cabin One and couldn't help but imagine that this must be what Percy feels like through all this. Like he was shadow traveling through the unknown, unaware of where he would end up next. Afraid, alone, and in the darkness.

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_(Piper POV)_

Piper sighed deeply as she entered the Big House. She'd just seen Calypso, who stopped to tell her about the situation before running off to find Leo.

Apparently Calypso had come up with some kind of injectable medicine that could possibly help Percy, but when she and Jason went to inject it into a sleeping Percy, he woke up and ran like a bat out of hell - or rather, a demigod out of hell, in this case. The two didn't want to do it while Percy was awake, they were afraid that he'd resist for whatever reason or something.

She pushed open the door to the Infirmary, assessing the damage: a lone syringe scattered across the floor, a pair of broken imperial gold glasses, and a very neglected and sad looking Baby's First Blankie.

Piper felt her heart strings tug. She hated seeing Percy in a condition like this; he tried to hide it but he was so different compared to the strong, funny, and indomitable Percy she knew on the Argo II.

Muffled voices drifted in from the main room of the Big House. Piper picked up the syringe and broken glasses up off the floor, placing them on a nearby table. Gods, she hoped that Calypso and Leo would find Percy soon. Just imagine what Annabeth must be feeling. Piper knew that if it were Jason going through this and was missing, she wouldn't sleep until she found him. She wouldnt be surprised if the son of Poseidon's well-being was constantly on Annabeth's mind.

_"…..Yes….I understand…..-n't know how he'll take that…"_

The tones of the voices in the other room changed from muffled whispers to intense hushed ones. Piper poked her head out the door, trying to listen in.

_"-ercy Jackson…"_

The conversation was hard to hear, sounding broken up and impossible to make out. Piper shut the door very quietly behind her, tip toeing down the hallway. As she got closer she realized with a start that it was Dionysus's voice, not Chiron like she'd expected.

Piper rounded a corner, sneaking up slowly on the room where the voices were drifting out from. Sure enough, there was the infamous God of wine. He looked like he was Iris Messaging someone, but from what Piper could see, the conversation wasn't going too well. Dionysus had his face in his hands, looking genuinely distressed. Definitely not something Piper saw every day. She had to rub her eyes and look again just to make sure.

"We've never done anything like this before, are you sure? Because I'm not. Demigods die all the time, it's really not a big deal." Mr. D was saying.

The person Mr. D was talking to laughed, "Oh, I know for sure that's not what you _really think_, and you know that better than I do."

Mr. D scoffed, waving his hand, "Demigods are disposable - it's one of the facts of life! They're meant to serve us, not us serve them. That'd make every little brat think they could just walk all over us. And if we refused, for all we know they could turn their anger on the boy."

"I think they'd understand."

"How so?"

"Dionysus, he's been to Tartarus and back."

Dionysus was silent for a long moment, taking a swig of his Diet Coke, "But…we don't even know what it is. Even as gods, you said so yourself that don't know if we can help him or not."

"I have my suspicions of what it is, though. Even if I am unable to help him, there is another who can."

Piper almost gasped. What were they talking about? Who was on the other end of the Iris Message? Most likely another god, but it sounded like they were discussing Percy. Not just that, but whoever was on the other end was offering to aid in figuring out how to help him.

Mr. D shifted in his desk again, "I see. As soon as the brat's found I'll talk to him about it."

"Please do. And bro, you know you don't have to pretend not to like him. We all know you have a soft spot for him; if not all of the campers! You don't have to pretend to be cool…You'll never be as cool as me anyway!" Narcissistic laughter followed after that. Piper rolled her eyes. Gods were all so full of themselves.

Piper stepped quietly away from the door before there was a chance of Mr. D noticing she was there. As she padded silently down the halls, Piper felt hope blossoming further inside her. Of course she'd never thought for a second that Percy wouldn't get better - she was even prepared to do things like talk him to sleep like last night - but any news of help (from anyone at this point) was good news.

First thing first, though, she had to. track him down. Calypso said he'd ran into the woods while not in his right of mind, which wasn't a good thing. That could lead to all kinds of trouble Piper didn't even want to consider.

Piper pushed open the Big House screen door and ran down the wooden stairs of the porch into the heat of the summer afternoon.

She found herself praying to the Gods that someone, anyone, would find him. Soon. She didn't want to think about what would happen if they couldn't find him or were too late. Not when hope was just around the corner.

Sure, death was a part of being a demigod. It was one of the facts of their lives. That didn't mean Piper was ready to accept it quite yet.

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_(Hazel POV)_

Surprisingly enough, even while she was at Camp Half-Blood, Hazel still had work to do from New Rome.

It was keeping her busy, to say the least. So here she was, sitting under a tree, filling in reports about her Cohort; things they could improve on, new training methods, and all those other boring Cohort things that Centurions did. It was a new thing Reyna had them trying out.

Hazel looked up and watched from a distance as a mop of dark hair and lightning bolt underwear sped into the woods. She brushed her unruly heap of curls out of her face. What was Percy doing? Running away from the Infirmary? Percy was a pretty adaptable and easygoing guy, so to watch him barrel into the forest (when he was supposed to be bedridden) without any known reason was a little unnerving.

Hazel adjusted her orange Camp t-shirt. What if Percy was in trouble? Guess there was only one way to find out. Hazel tucked her reports into the backpack she'd been carrying and stood up. Reyna's reports would have to wait.

As she started walking at a hastened pace after the son of Poseidon, she wished Frank were here. He was probably at the Mars Cabin - oops, Ares Cabin - hanging out with the campers there. Giving sparring lessons or something.

Hazel took on a brisk walk towards where she saw him enter, a million possibilities rushed through her mind. Hazel would do anything in her power to help Percy if something was wrong. Frank would have been a big help in this situation, maybe he could have turned into a bird and found Percy from above or something. Come to think of it, Frank was useful in almost every situation. But with no time to look for him, it looked like she was going to have to handle this on her own.

She took her first step into the forest at the spot she saw Percy disappear into, the thick undergrowth and trees making it dark even in the midday light. Hazel's golden eyes traveled over the entrance to the dense woods. Her gaze traveled down to the leaf-covered ground, her breath catching fast in her throat. Hazel covered her mouth in horror as she fought back the sudden tears of frustration.

Hazel closed her eyes for a moment before pushing forward through the brush after the prince of the sea, following the path that she knew would lead her to him.

The dark path of thick metallic drops of red, glistening on the leaves like Hazel's own cursed sparkling rubies.

**author note:**

end of chapter three! leave reviews to let me know what you think of the chapter, your thoughts on the story, suggestions on what pov's you want to see, or guesses on what happens next! I'll try to have the next chapter out quicker than this one. Thanks for reading!


	4. Lost and Found, Kind Of

**author note:**

sorry for the wait, here's chapter 4! As a side note, be aware that this chapter contains slightly more blood than previous ones! So basically, viewer digression is advised.

**Falling Down - Chapter 4**

**Lost And Found, Kind Of**

_(Nico POV)_

Nico found himself in the forest, the dark tendrils of shadow travel clearing to reveal a very disgruntled looking Jason and an only slightly less disgruntled looking Annabeth.

They were in a dim part of the woods, surrounded by thick tree trunks and wild prickly undergrowth. Nico could see the slight shimmers of Dryads, hiding from the scare and residue of the shadow travel. He grimaced just a little. Nico was never popular with the nature spirits, they weren't too keen on his natural death-smell.

"He's not here." Annabeth said tensely. Nico glanced up at her, she looked just about as stressed as he'd ever seen her. That was saying something. He'd seen the grey-eyed demigod in some stressful situations.

"We could split up," Nico suggested. Splitting up could either be good or bad in this situation. Percy would probably be found sooner and easier, but on the flipside, only one of them would be there to do anything. That could either cause more problems or be a good thing.

"No way," Jason said immediately. Nico rolled his eyes at him, "If we split up and something happens to any of us, that'll just cause more problems for us to deal with."

Nico sighed, "I get where you're coming from, Jason, I really do. But sticking together is gonna make this take even longer. We've already wasted way too much time."

"Nico's right." Annabeth said, flipping her golden princess curls over to put it into a ponytail, "We're all experienced fighters, and if you get lost just go west - you'll wind up back at camp."

Jason looked like he wanted to argue, but didn't press it, "Okay, but be careful. Both of you. Remember there's a good chance Calypso and Leo are out here searching too. So don't be surprised if you see them." Nico definitely didn't miss the pointed look that Jason gave him when the blonde said 'be careful'.

"You got it." Annabeth said, making a mock salute. "Meet up outside the woods in two hours. If you find Percy bring him with you. Also watch your back - there's not supposed to be monsters in these woods but some of the spirits can get nasty." With that, Annabeth turned and began walking deeper into the forest.

When she was out of sight, hidden by the bushes, Nico decided he should get a move on too. He took off his remaining shoe, along with his socks. The undergrowth might hurt his feet a little bit, but it was worth it to not be off balance if he had to fight. And also it spared him from looking ridiculous.

"Wait," Jason grabbed his hand. Oh no, Nico sensed a mother-bear moment coming on. "If you want me to come with you I can. Like, if Percy mistakes you for an enemy like last time, I can back you up."

Nico just stared at him, "Jason," He said slowly, "I don't know if you've figured this out yet, but I'm extremely capable of handling myself."

"I know, I know, I know," Jason said quickly, putting his hands up, "It's just…"

"Are you scared or something? I know the Camp's woods are big but I'm sure you'll be just f-"

"No, it's not that."

Nico felt a tiny prickle of annoyance that he'd been cut off in the middle of a sentence for the second time in less than two hours.

"It's that I know you've been through Tartarus too. You might pretend you're unaffected by it - just like Percy - but I know that's not the case. Annabeth too. Like, I know I didn't know you before you went through that but still, Nico, what if…" Jason stopped mid-sentence, biting his scarred lip.

"But what?"

"What if it's like, contagious or something? To people who've been in Tartarus."

Nico almost laughed out loud, "Contagious? If it was contagious Annabeth would have caught it already. Trust me."

"What about you though?"

"I'm basically immune to all Underworld stuff. I thought you knew this."

Jason huffed, "Well I was just looking out for you, dude."

Aw, crap. Now he felt bad. Jason wasn't trying to be over-protective, he was only trying to look out for the younger demigod. "It's cool. I appreciate it, really."

Jason looked like he perked up a little at that. "Alright, good. Now we should both split up and start looking. We gotta find my bro Percy." He didn't hesitate before giving Nico a big hug, smothering him in superman love and the fresh smell of high-altitude.

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_(Annabeth POV)_

Regardless of the relatively levelheaded act she put on in front of her friends, Annabeth was anything but calm and collected. Just the fact that Percy was sick was driving her up the wall. Now that he was missing? Annabeth's figurative wall she was being driven up was looking more and more like it was on fire, covered in spikes, and made of spiders.

She tore through the undergrowth, calling his name every once and awhile. Annabeth had already stopped at least two dryads and asked if they'd seen him. Of course, she'd had no luck.

It had already been fifteen minutes since she split from Jason and Nico. Selfishly, she secretly hoped either she or Nico would find him first. Jason had a habit of causing more problems than what it was worth. Of course, Annabeth didn't blame him for it. He was kind of like Percy in that way - just a magnet for trouble.

If she really thought about it though, all demigods were magnets for trouble. It was a hazardous occupation.

She continued her trek onward, still seeing no signs of her boyfriend or even any of her friends. Annabeth wracked her brain as she maneuvered around trees and poisonous plants. If she was Percy right now, where would she go?

Annabeth almost yelled when she went around a tree and crashed right into something. Or someone, in this case.

"Percy?!" She yelped, falling ungracefully on her butt.

"That's who i was hoping you were." A groan sounded from the forest floor.

Annabeth's heart plummeted. Piper got to her feet, brushing leaves off her jeans. Her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Piper's expression softened as she walked over to her.

"I didn't expect to see you out here." Annabeth confessed, taking a leaf out of Piper's hair, "Are you joining the search party too?"

"Yeah…So far I've had no luck though. It's almost like he just up and disappeared."

Annabeth felt a twinge in her belly at the words 'disappeared'. She silently forgave Piper though, everyone's nerves were going wild, Aphrodite's daughter's mind probably wasn't on word choice right now.

"I have news though. You should probably hear it." Piper said, "It's gonna be kind of vague though, because the details are a mystery to me too."

Okay, that caught Annabeth's interest.

"What kind of news?"

"Good news. I hope." Piper shrugged, "But important either way."

Annabeth gave her a 'get on with it' face.

Piper took a deep breath, "I overheard Dionysus talking with some other god. About Percy. It sounded like they were discussing helping out with trying to cure him."

Annabeth covered her mouth with one hand. "Oh my gods," She whispered. If the gods were talking about helping her boyfriend…she didn't have the words to describe how she felt.

Deep down though, she knew that every favor with the gods came with a price. In the span of her short life, she'd had more than a healthy helping of run-ins with godly beings, and she knew from experience that asking them for help usually came with repercussions.

But really though, Annabeth wasn't afraid of any price she had to pay. As long as it would help Percy, she would do anything.

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_(Leo POV)_

Leo Valdez was in a tree. He felt kind of like Tarzan. A better smelling and far more handsome Tarzan, with clothes on, but Tarzan nonetheless.

But anyway, he wasn't just hanging out in trees for fun, he was scoping the area for a certain sea prince. He was having no luck so far, he could only see so deep into the thick treetops.

He heard what happened from his (gorgeous and perfect) girlfriend who had gone back to the Infirmary to help Will get prepared for Percy's return. One problem though, if he couldn't find Percy, there would be no 'Percy's return'. Leo was trying to keep himself relatively calm, the events over the past week or so were really wearing him out. Coming home to a friend dying of Tartarus sickness was a shock, to say the least. Carrying a passed-out demigod a little less than half your size wasn't the easiest task Leo had ever tackled.

Leo sat down on a thick branch high in the air. Calypso told him Annabeth, Nico, and Jason were searching too. That was a relief in itself.

Guilt settled over him as he realized he didn't want to be the one to find Percy. Yes, he wanted Percy safe. Yes, he wanted him to be found. No, he didn't want to have to break horrifying news to his friends again. Worse yet, if the unimaginable had happened to the dark haired son of Poseidon, Leo didn't want to be the one to find him.

Leo put his face into his hands. No matter how he felt about it, the last thing he wanted to have happen was for Percy to die. There might have been a time when he would have rather drowned in his guilt, but he'd changed since the war with Gaea. He wasn't the scared scrawny kid he used to be. Now he was brave. And scrawny.

Leo adjusted his suspender straps. It was time to get moving.

As he slid down the bark of the tree, Leo decided to go with the simplest plan possible. Just go to the center of the woods and start from there. At this point, Percy could be anywhere.

Leo started at a paced run. Maybe he would run into one of his friends and they could search together. That sounded way better than doing this on his own.

"Ouch!" Leo yelped as he felt a sting on the side of his head. He stopped, rubbing the spot. The brown haired demigod bent down and picked up the acorn that had hit him. "What was that for?"

Leo's brown eyes widened as he found the source of the acorn bullet.

"Oh, sorry. Thought you were a monster." Frank smiled, holding up a slingshot.

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Leo and Frank pushed on together through the woods. So far, they'd had no luck. There was no sign of Percy, seemingly anywhere. It was like he disappeared into thin air.

Leo pointed out broken branches, footprints in mud, and other evidence of humanly presence, but was quickly but nicely shut down by Frank. According to the son of Mars, things like that weren't reliable considering there were other people in the woods.

After a half an hour of nothing, the pair was partially convinced that Percy had already been found.

Frank told Leo that he hadn't even been aware of Percy's condition until a few hours ago. However, Frank only arrived in Camp a few hours ago too after hearing from Hazel. So naturally, he had rushed here as fast as he could, only finding out about Percy's MIA status through one of the Ares campers.

"I don't know, maybe he's really been found already." Leo shrugged, flinging a stick he was carrying into the forest. Leo wasn't just feeling hopeless, but also exhausted.

"Gods, I hope so." Frank said softly.

Leo looked up at the taller demigod, "Maybe we should head back. We're useless running around in the woods looking for a guy who's already been found."

"You're probably right."

"I'm usually right."

As the two turned around to head back to where they came from, Leo felt all different kinds of relief.

And that relief came with staggering pounds of guilt, naturally.

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_(Nico POV)_

Okay, now his feet were _really_ starting to hurt.

Nico was sure he'd acquired at least three splinters by now. He sat himself down on a fallen log, taking his socks out of the lone shoe he was carrying and shoving them on his feet. Stupid Jason. Stupid flying. Nico dropped his shoe on the ground with no intent of picking it up again. It was useless to carry around, and anyway he had other shoes back at his cabin.

Someday, years from now, future demigods and heroes would find a lone black sneaker in the woods. They'd be so fascinated.

You know who would be really helpful right now? Mrs. O'Leary. That dog could hunt down Percy in a heartbeat. Even having _Grover_ with him would be a better lead on Percy's whereabouts.

Honestly it probably wouldn't hurt to go back to Camp, get Percy's hellhound, and come back. He'd be searching for him all the way back anyway.

Just as Nico got up to start heading back to Camp Half-Blood, he stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a faint rustle in the bushes, the sound of a wet cough. Judging by the sound, about thirty meters away.

Nico's heart leapt to his throat. "Percy?" He called, moving closer to the direction the noise came from. The summer sky was dipping into early evening. If this wasn't Percy…gods help him.

Nico kept slowly moving towards the sound that had since altogether stopped. The silence seemed to last an eternity. Nico's heartbeat, breath, and thoughts were loud in his own ears. He'd gone very deep into the woods. There was very little chance that the person was another one of Nico's friends. It was either an enemy, a forest spirit, or Percy.

Nico found out that even infinite silence doesn't last forever.

"…Uh?"

The voice was quiet, soft but wavering. Not only that, but it definitely belonged to the boy Nico was searching for. There was only one person he knew whose idea of a graceful (or even helpful) sentence was _'uh'_.

Nico immediately broke out into a sprint. However fast smallish demigods without sneakers could travel; he was exceeding that limit.

The son of Hades tore through the trees. He could feel his forehead beading with sweat. Twenty-five meters…nineteen meters…ten meters…three meters…

Nico practically flew into the small clearing. Sure enough, there he was. Messy hair, wide eyes, unusually pale skin. He was on the ground, leaning against a tree, staring up at Nico with bright dialated eyes, looking like he'd just seen the devil himself.

And no, Nico definitely didn't miss that Percy was covering his mouth with one hand. He didn't miss the bright patch of red on his abdomen, standing out on Percy's white t-shirt like a beacon.

The entire area reeked of blood.

"Oh my gods," Nico breathed, dropping down on his knees to be eye-level with the son of Poseidon.

"Nico…" Percy breathed through the hand covering his mouth, sounding like he couldn't believe what he saw. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair matted with sweat. Nico moved closer to him, immediately beginning to check the demigod's vital signs.

"Dude, I…I just…" Percy said hoarsely, then descending into a coughing fit that looked way more painful than Nico wanted it to be.

"Sshhh, sshhh," Nico hushed him. "Don't say anything. It's gonna be okay."

Well, judging from his vital points, not to mention common sense; Percy was still alive. His pulse was fluctuating wildly, but it wasn't serious. What was serious, however, was that the blood patch on Percy's stomach had more blood coming from it than Nico initially anticipated. The red liquid was seeping down to his baby blue lightning bolt boxers, completely soaking the waistband. Nico cringed - the guy had lost so much blood it was a miracle he was still conscious.

"It hurts so bad." Percy croaked, obviously not heeding the 'don't say anything' part of what Nico had said.

"I know it does, I know it does." Nico said, putting his hand over Percy's forehead. His eyes rapidly scanned the rest of Percy's body, "Gods, how could this happen…" Nico whispered, more to himself than to the boy in front of him.

"I'm sorry. Nico, I'm sorry." Percy gasped, taking his hand away from his face. The inside of his hand was covered in red, as was his mouth. Percy looked restless, biting his lip a little and looking anywhere except Nico's face. He looked… confused. Like he wasn't exactly sure what was going on, was in distress, and wasn't all there. Which Nico wasn't surprised at. Judging by what happened that morning, Nico had half expected Percy to not even recognize him.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Nico said. He put his hand on the side of Percy's face, trying to get the sea prince to look at him, "Now, we need to get you back to Camp, okay? Can you stand up?"

"I…I don't know. I think so." Percy said, scrunching his eyebrows together. Nico hoped that Percy wasn't just trying to be a hero. Well, yes; he was a hero, but you get the drift.

Nico backed off as Percy shifted, pushing his feet underneath him. He coughed again, blood spilling out of his mouth, to which Nico had to keep himself from making Percy sit back down. And also keep himself from gagging on the intense smell of blood, but that wasn't that important. As Percy shifted upright he wrapped an arm around the front of his abdomen, gritting his teeth. Nico extended a hand out to him, and Percy took it with a pained and embarrassed small smile.

About a hundred emotions were flashing through Nico right now. Of course, if Percy had been close to death, Nico would have been able to find him right away. But still, the discovery that Percy was still indomitable enough to resist letting Tartarus aftermath stuff stop him was like letting go of a breath he'd been holding for over two hours. Nevertheless, Percy looked absolutely terrible. And needed to get back to the Infirmary. Like, right now. Nico wanted nothing more than to just shadow travel them both back to the Big House, but with Percy in this condition… he wasn't sure if the green-eyed boy would have the mental strength right now to make it out of the shadow realm unscathed. The last thing Nico wanted was for Percy to be any more traumatized.

Percy held on to Nico's hand for balance as he staggered to his feet.

"Okay, good. So far so good." Nico said. He nudged himself closer to the green-eyed boy so he could help support his weight. Nico didn't like physical contact, but he'd live. It was Percy, anyway. The guy had probably saved Nico's ass so many times and he didn't even notice. He could bear a half an hour of saving his life.

"That wasn't so bad." Percy smiled, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. To Nico's relief, the son of Poseidon was looking much less confused and more with the present. However, despite Percy's words, the blood flow down the front of his shirt somehow quickened.

"Yeah. Not so bad," Nico said, beginning to coax Percy forwards. He eyed the guy's abdomen wearily, and had to consciously keep his voice from wavering, "Let's get you home."

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_(Percy POV)_

Percy was exhausted.

To top that off, _'exhausted'_ was nothing short of the understatement of the century. He felt like his entire body wanted nothing more than to shut down and fall to the ground.

Today had been one of the worst days of his life, and he barely remembered any of it. Percy remembered being hit with a migraine the size of a pickup truck in the woods and everything turning inside out. Before that, zilch. Each step he took was like a knife to the gut. Every time he flinched, Nico would give him an exasperated look like he expected Percy to keel over any second.

Of course he knew Nico wasn't intending to make Percy feel guilty and useless. But yeah, he was making Percy feel guilty and useless.

Nico wasn't really a big guy either, especially for someone who was partially holding up Percy's weight. Like, yeah, he was trying his best to help. Yeah, Percy was grateful beyond words that someone had found him before he something even worse happened. But no, Nico was not the first guy he'd ask to help support his weight. Percy probably weighed at least fifty pounds more than Nico. Maybe even seventy. Or a hundred. How much did Nico weigh, anyway? Like, three chicken nuggets?

Percy's vision was swimming as he took step after step, being guided along by Nico and hoping he wasn't crushing him. He was vaguely aware of Nico jabbering off reassuring and soothing words, but to Percy's ears it just sounded like gibberish. His vision drifted in and out, the only constant out of his set of variables was the incessant burning of the front of his shirt.

"Just ten more minutes. Ten more minutes, Percy. You can do this." Nico encouraged him, squeezing Percy's arm, bringing him to the present world.

The present world was quickly out of reach once again as Percy's head felt like it exploded for the umpteenth time that day.

He suddenly pushed Nico away, falling to the ground with his hands pressed to his skull. Things moved in slow motion again, just like how the blistering pain in his abdomen slowly climbed up his chest.

"Oh gods, oh gods, _goddamn it_! Fuck!" Nico was yelling in the background, but Percy didn't catch the rest. All he could see was white. White, white, white. Like a snowy tundra stretching out for miles.

Percy's breath stopped as the heat engulfed his chest. His ribs, his lungs, and circling around his heart. Percy tried to hold in his scream for his own sake and for Nico's, but failure was inevitable.

Percy vaguely saw a panicked Nico hovering over him, his mouth moving at rapid speed, but Percy heard nothing. Nico mouthed something that looked like '_sorry_' before Percy's world erupted into darkness.

Darkness, like that wretched hole he couldn't stop falling into.

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Percy's eyes cracked open, his body instinctually wincing against harsh morning sunlight reflecting against yellow walls.

He took a deep breath, the fresh air hitching in his chest ever so slightly. Percy lifted his hands to look at them. Clean, clean and flesh-colored like they'd never met staining blood before. He was in new clothes - a fresh camp t-shirt and simple black shorts. Why, though? Percy felt under his shirt. Yup, bandages in place. But this time, all the way up to his chest. What? Did everything he had just dreamt about really happen?

"So Mr. Jackson is finally awake, I see?" A familiar voice sounded from the side.

Percy turned his vision to across the room. Dionysus sat in a chair, legs crossed, swirling Diet Coke around in a wine glass. Percy blinked. Mr. D was watching it like it was far more interesting than the other person in the room.

The god drained his glass, putting it down on the floor next to himself, taking time to settle back into his chair once again. Dionysus leaned forward, catching and holding Percy's gaze captive with unreadable violet eyes.

"You and I have a lot to talk about."

**author note:**

end of chapter 4! What will happen next?

Leave reviews to let me know what you think of the story thus far! And also cause they give me inspiration to keep writing this.


	5. Dying Gets Confirmed

**author note:**

sorry for the wait!

**Falling Down - Chapter 5**

**Dying Gets Confirmed**

_(Percy POV)_

"What?!"

"You heard me, kid. Apollo's coming down tomorrow and he's going to put an end to this mess."

Percy was sitting on the edge of his Infirmary bunk on high alert. "Wait, but why does Apollo care if I'm cured or not? Isn't that like… ungodly or something? Unproffessional?"

"Jackson, do you want to be cured or not?" Mr. D said, looking impatient, tapping his fingers against the arm of the chair. Maybe he needed more Coke or something. Percy was surprised he hadn't called him by the wrong name yet.

"Well…yeah, but-"

"No but's, boy!" Mr. D scolded with a wave of his hand, getting up from his seat. "Apollo is coming and whatever consequences come of that; I will do something unheard of and help you manage them."

Percy couldn't help it that his eyebrows flew upwards.

"Oh, put those eyebrows of yours back down. That horrid Athena girl already busted down my door to tell me all about how you weren't in the shape to do any quest favors for Apollo in return for his help." Dionysus casually walked to Percy, stopping right in front of him, his eyes glinting. "But it seems even she is desperate for your useless life. She even offered to do Apollo's quest alone."

"Did Apollo ever actually say he absolutely wanted a quest done for him in return?" Percy asked the god. He made a mental note to tell Annabeth she was absolutely not going alone. This was his mess. He was going to take full responsibility.

Dionysus was silent for a moment, "Yes. He did."

Well, that sucked. But never mind that, Percy finally had a chance to be free of this awful sickness…illness? Thing? Anyways, he was going to take it.

Both Percy and Dionysus were silent. Why was Dionysus helping him? He even offered to help deal with Apollo's consequences. The wine god didn't even like him. Gods didn't help demigods unless they wanted something in return. Or if they were threatened to. And on the chance of gods actually wanting to help demigods, it was either 1) they got something out of it, or 2) they liked you. The more Percy thought about it, the more it confused him.

"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Doing what?"

"Helping me. You don't even like me."

"My, my, Peeta. Always so quick to judge. How your father can stand you is beyond me." Dionysus was silent for a moment before walking across the room to the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and opened it, "As for your question, let's just say that there are things even I don't understand."

With that, he was gone.

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_(Jason POV)_

Well, schist.

Jason shut the door to the Infirmary behind him. It was dark out, but for some reason he'd assumed Percy would be awake. His assumptions were usurped when he was greeted by a softly snoozing aqua man.

He sat down on the bed adjacent to Percy's, figuring this was kind of like the time he found Percy having a nightmare in Jason's own Cabin One. Strange how history repeats itself. Except it didn't look like Percy was having a nightmare. Thank the gods.

Jason wasn't just here to stare into space though. He wanted to check on his bro, and talk with him a little bit about tomorrow and what would lie ahead. And because he and the others had decided that having someone watch Percy at different intervals would be beneficial for everyone. They wouldn't let Percy know that, of course. He'd definitely throw some kind of sea god fit.

Jason had been searching at the edge of the woods when he saw Nico's enormous burst of shadow travel a little ways off near the Big House. He'd instantly ran to the site, where lo and behold, Nico along with the missing son of the sea were gasping. Gasping for different reasons, too, which Jason found out in a matter of seconds.

Nico was mid-panic attack when Jason reached them, furiously trying to calm a convulsing Percy. Trying to calm someone while being the opposite of calm yourself seemed… counterproductive to Jason. The son of Zeus rushed to pick Percy up, Nico immediately helping him.

They had brought him into the Big House, Nico dashing off to find Will while Jason got Percy to the Infirmary.

When the Apollo campers had arrived, Jason and Nico were shooed out, leaving them to only wonder what would happen.

Annabeth, however, wasn't as lenient about being locked out as the two boys were. She had practically stormed the Big House, pounding on the doors and screaming until they had finally let her in.

Jason was brought back to the present when Percy shifted in his sleep. Jason had seen Percy covered in blood before - but seeing it yesterday was very different than his usual monster-blood attire. He was used to a bloody, grinning and smiling Percy who could make fun of his enemies and defeat them at the same time. Seeing a bloody, possibly dying and screaming Percy? Not really the same experience. Or a good one.

His attention was drawn away from the sleeping form when the door clicked open, the soft dim light from the moon filtering in through the window illuminating the person's face. Imperial gold eyes, light curls cascading over dark honey brown shoulders.

"Oh, sorry, didn't know you were in here." Hazel said quietly but warmly, closing the door behind her.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just…yeah." Jason shrugged, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"Me too," Hazel smiled, moving over to Percy's bunk. "Everybody's anxious right now. I'm so restless I can't even sleep, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow."

Hazel moved a chair quietly to Percy's bedside, sitting down and slowly beginning to subtlety play with his hair.

"Have you talked to Nico?" Jason asked, walking over and sitting on the floor.

"Yeah," Hazel spoke after a moment. "He was freaking out earlier but I think he's alright now that he knows Percy's in good hands with Will."

"Does he still…like him, or whatever?"

"Like who, Percy? No. I don't think so, I think he was telling the truth when he said Percy wasn't his type." Hazel grinned. "He's just known him for so long."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"But really…I think there's a part of him that still really cares about Percy. In my experience, after caring about someone for so long it's nearly impossible to just…stop."

Jason gave a little smile. That reminded him of himself with Reyna, and couldn't agree more. Percy was breathing slowly but evenly, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest almost calming.

Jason took Hazel's hand and squeezed it, "C'mon, let's let him sleep. He's got a long day ahead of him tomorrow."

"Yeah. You're right."

The two romans quietly exited the room, the door clicking softly behind their backs as they stood in the hallway. Jason was about to say goodnight when he stopped, thinking. What if…hmmm…Huh.

"What's wrong?" Hazel asked, taking notice of Jason's quizzical expression.

"There was a time, awhile ago, when Percy came into my room in the middle of the night and I found him having a nightmare."

"Gods…that's horrible. I hope everything turned out okay."

"Well, that's the thing. It was before we knew Leo was still alive and stuff. Well so, Percy told me that Leo was in his nightmares. A day or two after that; Leo pops up out of nowhere." Jason explained.

"Are you trying to say Percy's illness lets him like, predict the future?"

"No, no!" Jason said, shaking his head. Hazel looked relieved, like the 'thank gods Jason didn't say yes, Hazel, Percy is so sick that he became the new Oracle' kind of relieved. "I'm not sure but I think it means Leo can help somehow. Demigods have ominous dreams, after all. Maybe it was supposed to be a sign and then his Tartarus memories like dream-hacked it. Or something."

"Maybe talk to Leo about it," Hazel shrugged. "Maybe he knows something."

"Yeah. Maybe."

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_(Annabeth POV)_

Weapons? Check.

Ambrosia? Check.

Nectar? Check.

Map? Check.

Extra Drachmas? Check.

Enough Cheetos to last eight missions? Also check.

Planning for Mission: Do Whatever Quest Apollo Wants So Your Boyfriend Doesn't Eat The Dust's necessity list was complete.

Annabeth was determined. Determined to save her boyfriend's life. She figured if she could survive Arachne's lair, she could survive whatever Apollo threw at her. Sure, he had a reputation of killing people who didn't please him, but the daughter of Athena was prepared for the challenge.

What she wasn't prepared for, though, was for a goat to fall through the roof. Which happened to be exactly what happened next.

Annabeth's stormy eyes widened at the sound of wood cracking above her, and they bulged at the sight of furry haunches falling directly over her head.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth said, seconds before being engulfed in fur.

"Annabeth!" A familiar voice bleated as they crashed onto the floor in a heap of ceiling, goat, and demigod.

Annabeth shoved the source of the voice off her, brushing off her shirt before glancing up at the satyr that just fell through her roof.

"Grover?" She asked in disbelief, smiling larger than she had in days, despite being covered in ceiling dust, "Where were you? I haven't seen you in months!"

"Oh, you know. Pan's will stuff. Satyr stuff. Taste testing the enchiladas in local schools." He said, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully before getting to his feet - err…hooves - and extending a hand to Annabeth, "I guess I'm adding ceiling crashing to that list, though."

Annabeth laughed and took his hand, letting him help her get up on her feet, "I'd tell you off about it if I wasn't so curious as to how you even got up there."

"Oh! Uhhh, yeah, let's just say I was riding pegasi-back to Camp and offended one. I was in the middle of my apology when I got dumped."

"That's rough."

"Yeah. Are those cheetos?"

Annabeth sat down at her desk, handing him the bag, "Help yourself."

Grover did help himself, in fact he helped himself to the plastic of the bag while he was at it.

He sat down on one of the camper's bunks, scratching the back of his (now pretty impressive) horns before digging in. Annabeth didn't need the gift of foresight to know whoever owned that bed was going to have cheeto dust in their sheets for months.

What Annabeth was really curious about was what prompted Grover to come to camp anyway? Had something come up? All they needed right now was more problems.

"Grover…what made you decide to take a detour back to Camp anyways?" Annabeth asked, turning to sit backwards on her chair to face him.

Grover looked like he just remembered something really important, "Oh my gods!" He bleated, "Ok, so I was just like doing my thing and all, eating some really good cheese lasagna, when I had a vision."

"Like, a Pan vision, or something?"

"No, no no. Like an empathy link vision."

"Oh my gods." Annabeth breathed, "But didn't the empathy link between you and Percy disappear when Hera dunked him in the Lethe?"

Grover shrugged, shoving more cheetos into his mouth, "I thought that too, but apparently it survived. Somehow. I don't know. Magic is weird."

"What did you see in the vision, then?"

"Well, that's just the thing. I don't know what I saw, but I can guess."

"Uhh… explain."

"It was dark, I guess? And in the woods. He looked like he was…" Grover stopped eating his cheetos, looking down at the floor. "Kind of like he was dying. Blood and stuff."

Annabeth nodded grimly. "That happened recently, he's stable now - just so you know - but yeah. At the time it felt like a wild goose chase."

"But the thing is, he looked like he was doing it to…himself. Dude, I don't know." Grover twirled a piece of his hair with his un-cheeto'd hand.

"That's crazy, though. Percy wouldn't do that."

Grover shrugged, "Just telling you what I saw."

Annabeth didn't know what Grover meant by 'doing it to himself', but she could only pray to the gods that nothing bad was about to happen.

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_(Leo POV)_

Feeling like a failure not even a month after returning to camp felt like a personal record to Leo. Not really a record worth celebrating, but it probably rivaled the time when he felt like a failure just an hour after getting to New Rome. Fantastic.

Leo was camped out in good old Bunker Nine. Being here made him feel comfortable. Well, more comfortable than he would feel around tons of people who would hate him if they knew what he did.

Yeah, yeah, okay. He still felt super bad about basically running away from a chance to help Percy. Maybe others would try to convince him that the crime wasn't worth punishing himself over, but it certainly felt like it was worth punishing himself over.

He patted Festus, who creaked in response. Just another day at his favorite camp hanging out with his favorite giant metal dragon. Ah, life.

Calypso was back at the camp. Probably going over stuff that would concern Apollo's visit later in the day. Leo would have joined her if he wasn't feeling as down as Coach Hedge without anyone to demand push-ups from. He didn't like his friends to see him feeling like this anyway. It'd ruin his bad boy image.

Leo's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden banging on the bunker door. Huh. People didn't usually visit him here, and those who did normally knew not to disturb him when the door was closed. Maybe it was one of his siblings? If those guys set the forge on fire again…

Leo climbed over machinery and maneuvered through the large bunker until he reached the door. He opened it, preparing to receive an inquiry to help put out yet another forge fire.

Instead, Leo found himself face-to-face with Piper.

"Leo!" Piper smiled. "Sorry to bother you, but Apollo's here. He wants everyone who was involved in the quest to be at the Big House."

"Oh…do we like, have to?" Leo asked casually, leaning against the doorway. "It's a pretty long walk after all. We might not get there in time. Or get lost. Or eaten by wolves."

Piper raised an eyebrow, "Uhh…are you okay?"

"Yeah. yeah. Fine. I'm fine." Leo shrugged, plastering a grin to his face. "Never been better."

Piper gave him a knowing look. Gods, that girl could see through anybody. She was getting increasingly good at reading him like a book.

"Alright. Okay. You got me," Leo confessed, stepping out of the bunker and shutting the door behind him. "I'm just… I don't know! I feel bad because I persuaded Frank that we should stop looking for Percy cause I was afraid to be the one to find him. If he wound up being dead or something."

"Leo, everybody knows you're the one who saved Percy on the lake in the first place. I'm sure it's fine."

This was… exactly what he expected to happen. Great.

"But I feel like it's not fine."

"Well, it is." Piper said decidedly. "I'm sure Percy doesn't care anyway."

Leo felt himself surrendering to her probably charmspoken reasoning. He knew Piper didn't usually use charmspeak on her friends. For good reason, too. She could be downright manipulative.

The two began their trek towards the Big House in silence.

Who knows, maybe Percy really didn't care about any of that.

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_(Percy POV)_

Percy sneezed.

He shivered, rubbing his nose. What was that about? What was that thing that people say…. Oh, yeah. You sneeze when people are talking about you. Or something.

Anyway, Percy was feeling kind of nervous. He sat on the side of his infirmary bed, making sure Baby's First Blankie was thoroughly underneath his butt. It wasn't as if Percy hadn't met gods before… in fact, he'd probably met too many. This was a new situation, though. What if Apollo blamed him for the sickness? Or decided it was unfixable? Gods were unpredictable, and on top of that, Apollo was one of the most unpredictable out of all of them. Percy would rather know he was going to die than just up and dying without warning. Even if it made stuff a lot more stressful. He felt really similarly to the time when he received a prophecy stating that he was going to drown to death.

Apollo was late. Which wasn't surprising. Most gods liked to be late to stuff on purpose. They were weird like that.

Suddenly the door opened, revealing an extremely anxious and jittery looking Will Solace.

"Percy." He said, gripping the doorknob. "Apollo's here."

Right as Will finished his sentence, a smiling god pushed past him into the room.

How did Percy know said god was Apollo? First of all, the dude's medium-dark skin had a perfect tan unattainable by any mortal, his purposefully messy dusty blonde hair didn't have a strand out of place, and his teeth were so white they could have blinded a lesser man. Percy, being that lesser man, had to shield his eyes from the gleam.

"Oh, haha, sorry. Forgot to turn off the Sunshine Smile." Apollo laughed, turning his smile into a teethless one.

"Uh,"

In the background, Will gave Percy an apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile as Apollo sauntered over to where Percy was seated on the bed.

The sun god gave another unnerving smile, turning to face where Will was at the door.

"Thank you, Will. That'll be all."

Will looked restless and uncomfortable, twisting the door knob a little bit. Percy didn't miss the glance he flashed at him before shutting the door. Okay, Percy understood being nervous when your godly parent was in the room, but Will's expression was one of warning. An expression that read 'Dude, Apollo is terrifying please don't get yourself killed.' Percy shivered.

Meanwhile, Apollo turned his attention back to the son of Poseidon.

"So, Dionysus tells me you've been having a hard time, huh?"

"You could say that. I guess."

"Lay down for me." Apollo pushed down on Percy's shoulders, forcing him backwards and down on his back.

Apollo immediately got to work, startling Percy once again by pushing the sea prince's shirt up to look at his abdomen. Percy hoped this forward approach wasn't how he handled all of his patients.

Percy flinched as Apollo pressed his fingers down onto his abdomen, "Take a deep breath," He said slowly.

Percy did as he was told, watching as Apollo flattened his hand on his belly, his expression becoming very concentrated.

"Good…Alright, Dionysus told me a little bit about your symptoms, but I'd like to hear it from you." He said, pressing in different areas on Percy's black and blue middle.

Talking while this was happening was going to be a challenge.

"Uhhhh…well um, I get like, dizzy sometimes?"

Apollo made a humming sound, and Percy continued.

"And it hurts on its own randomly. Every once in awhile," Percy's throat was getting dryer and dryer by the second. "It makes me cough, too. But like, the bad kind of coughing. With blood and stuff."

"Mmmmhhmm…" Apollo said thoughtfully, pushing his hand further up Percy's body to stop on top of his heart. "Dionysus led me to believe you were also experiencing flashbacks?"

"Well, yeah." Percy shifted uncomfortably.

"And you have episodes where the illness deteriorates your organs."

"How did… how did Dionysus know that?" Percy felt extremely uncomfortable. Not just because Apollo was still prodding his vital points.

Apollo smiled, but didn't answer Percy's question. "The last time you had an attack, where was the pain most concentrated in?"

"My chest. Like, my heart. I guess."

Apollo drew his hands back from Percy's skin so fast it reminded him of satyrs finding out burritos had meat in them.

"Dammit…" He whispered, turning away from Percy, putting his hands on his hips.

Percy sat up and wiggled his shirt back down. Ok… this was weird. He wished people would just tell him straight up what was going on. Everyone seemed to be bent on trying to hide him from every truth. It pissed him off.

"What?" Percy demanded.

"If it's already gotten to your heart…" Apollo slowly turned back to the son of Poseidon,

"I'm afraid it's too late."


	6. Prescription: Field Trip

**author note:**

here's chapter 6! enjoy!

**Falling Down - Chapter 6**

**Prescription: Field Trip**

_(Piper POV)_

Piper and Leo trudged through the forest in comfortable silence. Piper twirled a piece of her hair with her finger, thinking. Leo had looked really shaken up when she arrived at the bunker about ten minutes ago. She didn't exactly know the details but… his stressed and manic expression was enough for her to slip some charmspeak into her words to him.

She stepped over a twig and looked up as the end of the woods opened up into the fields of Camp Half Blood.

"I hope he's okay." Leo mused as they began their trek across the fields towards the Big House.

"Apollo is literally the god of medicine. So like, not just a really good doctor, he's like the lord of all those good doctors and more. If he can't help Percy, who can?"

"True."

They neared the porch and Piper was surprised to see a satyr sitting at the railing. More accurately, gnawing on the railing. Sitting just sounds like a better image than gnawing.

The magical creature looked up from the now thoroughly chewed section of wood, "Are you two here to see Percy?"

"Yeah." Piper said, climbing up the steps, "Are we allowed in?"

"Sure, if you want. But it might not be worth it." The goat boy bleated before clutching his head. "_Uuggghhh_…Peeerrrrccyyyyy."

"Dude. What." Leo ran a hand through his curly brown hair. "What's wrong with Percy?"

"And who are you?"

The satyr slumped his face against the railing bars, "I'm Grover. Percy's best friend."

Piper and Leo glanced at each other. Leo mouthed a very large _'What.'_

"Percy and I have an empathy link. That means whenever he experiences magnified emotions, so do I." Grover pushed away from the railing and looked at the demigods with a grimace, "Like right now, for instance."

"Oh my gods." Everything started clicking in Piper's mind. If this satyr had an empathy link with Percy and Percy was experiencing intense negative emotions, that meant…

"Leo, come on." Piper demanded, taking Leo by the hand and practically dragged him into the Big House.

"Piper, do you think-"

"Yeah. I do." Piper said tightly, making her way towards the Infirmary with Leo's hand secure in her grasp.

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_(Annabeth POV)_

Annabeth felt like her world was crashing around her while she desperately tried to superglue the pieces of the universe back together.

Dionysus sat in front of her at his desk, rubbing both eyes with one hand. She was mad at him. Someone had to be blamed for this. She needed to be mad at _someone_, and as of right now he was the best candidate.

After Grover had smashed through her roof, the two had decided to come to the Big House to see how Percy was doing with Apollo. Will Solace met her at the door and told her. She didn't even get to go in and see Percy.

She hadn't expected this.

In retrospect, she should have known something like this would happen. How blind was she? To think that this whole deal would happen without a hitch. That Percy would actually make it out of this alive.

"How could you let this happen." She growled at the god of wine through gritted teeth. "You _knew_ Apollo wouldn't be able to save him. You knew it all along."

"For Olympus's sake, girl." Dionysus hissed back, standing up, "Just because I'm a god doesn't mean I know everything. You think I want Poseidon's only demigod son to die on my watch? If I had a death wish, maybe."

"So it's all about you then. You don't care that Percy's dying." Annabeth knew she was losing it. Hysteria rose up in her chest as she realized the very gravity of the situation as she said it out loud. "_He's dying!_ My boyfriend is dying and the gods don't even care! He saved all of you more times than I can count! Doesn't that mean anything to you? Doesn't being family mean anything to you? And don't give me that 'demigods die all the time' bullshit."

Dionysus sighed, closing his eyes, "Annabeth." That immediately caught Annabeth's attention. Mr. D never used her actual name. "Nobody wants Jackson to die. The kid is the best demigod we've had in two thousand years. You think the gods want to give up that kind of prize? No. Absolutely not. That's not how they work."

"So you only care about him cause he's a 'prize' and y-"

"Listen to what I'm saying, girl. I'm telling you the cold hard truth and even if it's not ideal, it's going to save his goddamn life."

Annabeth glared, but was slightly dumbfounded by the aggressive determination in Mr. D's voice. She'd only heard him use that tone when he really meant something.

"…Okay. Go on."

"What I mean is… the gods of Olympus think Percy is too valuable to let go. This works to our advantage. Even if Apollo can't heal him, that's not the last straw."

"So… who else can help if Apollo can't?"

"That's the thing. The god who can help Percy isn't on Olympus. On top of that, he's not that fond of Jackson. We have no idea if he'll help or not."

"Not on Olympus… wait… do you mean-"

"You know very well who I mean, Athena girl."

Annabeth felt like her frantically beating heart halted to a complete stop, "Hades."

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_(Percy POV)_

As Apollo paced the room muttering to himself, Percy sat quietly on the edge of the flimsy Infirmary bed.

He…didn't know how he felt. Kind of numb? Maybe a little hungry? He kind of needed to use the bathroom? He was getting used to feeling like this. Percy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

Apollo stopped at the center of the floor, "Hades is the only one who will know anything about this kind of illness, being an Underworld kind of guy and all. Your best bet at this point is to go to him. If you can. But even if you can't, you should, cause like. You'll die if you don't."

As much as Percy appreciated Apollo not sugar-coating the truth, he couldn't help but wonder if the sun god knew the meaning of tact.

"So… the mission is off?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. Well, yes and no. I have a new quest for you, Perseus. Your new task is to go to the Underworld and demand that Hades heals you. No matter what." Apollo said, looking out the window, "I better be off now. I have an appointment in Syria."

Percy watched as Apollo crossed the room to the door, probably going to say goodbye to Dionysus before he left.

"It's a wonder why you didn't take our offer to become a god, you know." Apollo mused, sounding like he was thinking out loud, "You would have made your father so proud."

"My dad…does… Poseidon know about…all this? Like, he has to, right?"

Apollo opened the door and slipped out, without answering and without looking back.

Wow. Rude, much?

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It was ten minutes later when the door opened again, this time revealing a storm of blonde wild hair and hurricane grey eyes. Annabeth looked like she could be a daughter of Zeus sometimes… but if he ever told her that he might get in more trouble than it was worth.

"Percy!" She exclaimed exasperatedly. Percy smiled and pushed himself off the bunk to greet her, "Oh no, you don't." She said, taking him by the shoulders and pushing him back down.

"I'm fine. It's cool." Percy smiled, running his hand through her hair.

They just stared into each other's eyes in silence before Annabeth suddenly bit her lip and her brows creased as she wrapped her arms around him, pushing her face into the nape of his neck, "Gods, Percy, I…"

"I know. It's okay." Percy said softly, rubbing circles into her back, "Apollo said Hades can help, and we can like, go down there. And stuff. It's worth a shot. And on the bright side, Apollo says he doesn't want a quest anymore."

He felt Annabeth nod, and take a deep breath. Percy could tell she was trying to hold it together - something she was normally pretty good at - and not just for Percy's sake. For her own too. Annabeth was smart. She knew even more than Percy that giving in and crying now wouldn't do any good for the situation.

He knew Annabeth would endure this with him. Which was kind of amazing - like, seriously. If you compared them both by looks Annabeth was an angel and Percy was a dead fish. How he ended up with such an amazing person was the thing he was most grateful for. They were more than just lovers. They were best friends. Teammates. They'd go to the ends of the earth for each other.

Gods, he loved this girl so much.

"You'll be okay, right?" He asked, placing a small kiss on her head. She pulled back out of the hug with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face,

"Who cares about me, seaweed brain! I'm okay as long as you're okay. And I promise, I'm gonna make sure you're okay."

Percy felt his heart flutter and he leaned forward into a kiss.

The day he stopped loving Annabeth Chase was the day McDonald's discontinued Big Macs.

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_(Jason POV)_

Jason, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Leo, and Nico were in the main room of the Big House.

Well, more like sleeping in the main room of the Big House.

Apollo's doctor visit to Percy had taken up a good deal of time, and on top of that, Will told them all that Percy needed space. They weren't allowed to see him. Except Annabeth, of course. She's smart and stubborn enough to get past any stupid rule like that. Anyway, nobody knew if it was Percy's request to be alone or Will's _'Doctor Senses'_, but it left the six of them making the main room couches their new homes.

It was pitch black outside, but Jason couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, boom, another thought about what Apollo told them as he was leaving.

Apparently the last known way to help Percy would be to take him to Hades. Easy, Jason had thought, With Nico's help, this would be a synch.

But he kept thinking about the look on Nico's face when Apollo said that. Like, yeah, Nico's resting face was always a little pissed off. But it was different, kind of like the look Will made when Apollo told him he should be taking better care of the Infirmary rooms. A kind of horrified Oh-No-Why-This kind of face.

Jason glanced at the sleeping son of Hades, who was slumped against Hazel. Together they looked like a pair of little dolls. Well, Hazel always looked like a doll come to life, but you get the picture.

"Can't sleep either?"

Jason was so startled he ejected two feet into the air.

"Woah. It's just me, dude."

Jason looked down to see Leo crawling out from underneath the couch.

"You were sleeping under the couch." Jason said flatly.

"Well, yeah. Ever since Frank got his 'manly-man transformation' he's been snoring like a bear. Like, new Frank is good and all but I miss old Frank. Man, I don't even miss old Frank, I just miss being not two whole people shorter than him."

"He's been 'New Frank' for like eight months."

"Still new." Leo whispered back, sitting down beside Jason on the couch.

"So, why can't you sleep?" Jason asked, leaning back against the cushions.

"I don't know…I'm worried, I guess. Sorta." Leo shrugged, averting his eyes from Jason.

"…Me too." Jason whispered, glancing at Piper sleeping on the floor.

"I hope this doesn't turn into a bigger mess than it already is." Leo sighed, picking at the edge of the couch.

"Same."

The two sat in a loaded silence for several minutes. Jason could hear Leo's level breathing, synchronized with his own.

"You know…I never thought I'd see you again." Jason confessed, playing absentmindedly with the edge of his night shirt, "I thought we lost you."

"Aw, man! Don't get all sentimental on me now!" Leo grinned, "I was always planning on coming back. No matter what. Mechanics are always improvising, right?"

"Yeah. I just want you to know that it wasn't any small deal that you were gone. Even though we should have realized that it was you we were talking about. We should have known you'd figured something out."

Leo gave Jason the most genuinely sincere smile he'd seen on his face in a long time, "That… means a lot to me. Thanks, man."

"Don't mention it."

"I think I'm gonna try to get some sleep," Leo yawned, laying down. "G'night, dude."

Jason watched as Leo descended into obvious fake snoring.

So the son of Hephaestus just wanted the couch. Despite being deprived of his sleeping area, Jason smiled softly. Typical Leo. The war with Gaea took a lot of things from them, but at least spared the little things that made them who they were. Like strategically stealing a couch, for instance.

0000000000

_(Hazel POV)_

Hazel yawned as she slowly woke. Daylight drifted through the windows of the main room, illuminating the sleeping figures all around the room.

Frank was on the floor, curled up in a big ball on his side with a pillow under his head and a baby blue blanket wrapped around him. She took a moment to appreciate how cute her boyfriend was.

So cute.

On the less cute side of the room, Leo was drooling puddles into the couch Hazel could have sworn Jason had claimed before they went to sleep. Instead, she saw him snoozing softly curved around a sleeping Piper Mclean. Okay, that was cute too.

She glanced down to the figure whose head had made quite a home on her shoulder. Nico always looked really good when he slept. The bags under his eyes were way less noticeable, and his expression was that of peace rather than stress. She wished he could look like that all the time.

Hazel looked up as Annabeth emerged from the hallway, looking like she hadn't slept a wink.

"Annabeth?" Hazel whispered.

"Oh, hi Hazel. I didn't see you were awake," Annabeth said quietly back, scanning the room full of snoozing demigods. "Is anyone else up yet?"

"Nope," Hazel said back. "Judging by how you look, you shouldn't be up yet either."

Annabeth shrugged, "Couldn't sleep."

Hazel decided within less than a minute that Annabeth was lying and there was more to that statement, but didn't press it. She looked like she didn't want to talk about it anyway.

"Percy's still sleeping, but I think we should get down to the Underworld as fast as possible." Annabeth pushed on, reaching down and shaking Piper a little bit, "Help me wake all these guys up."

As the whole crew was roused into the world of the conscious, Hazel began to feel a little nervous and excited at the same time. Like, yeah, they were only going to the Underworld to help Percy, but seeing Hades was going to be interesting. She'd met Pluto before, but never his greek counterpart. She wondered how he'd react to her. And how she'd react to him.

"Hey, Nico. Wake up, sleepyhead." Hazel said softly, nudging her half brother.

"_Nnnnnnooo,_" He groaned, clearly still half asleep and not looking like he was planning on waking up anytime soon.

Hazel got up. Nico, who had been leaning on her, fell flat on his face on the couch.

"Ughhfhhpph."

"Oh, come on."

Hazel's attention was drawn away from her scrawny pale brother when Frank appeared next to her.

"G'morning." He yawned, rubbing one of his eyes.

Yeah. Her boyfriend was definitely the cutest.

"Good morning." Hazel smiled, giving him a hug, "Help me wake Nico up, would you?"

Frank laughed sleepily, "No way. I don't want this morning to end with turning up in the fields of punishment."

"Good choice." Nico said drowsily, pushing himself off his face and into a sitting position.

"Alright, now that everyone's awake, I've got some news for all of you."

All six heads turned towards Annabeth as she stood in the center of the room.

"Someone's going to be joining us shortly and will help us get to the safest entrance of the Underworld unharmed. I know what you're thinking - we don't need help cause we can protect ourselves. That's true. Except this is a special situation. Dionysus and I both agree that extra help would be beneficial to help keep Percy safe."

"Can't we just shadow travel there?" Jason asked, looking incredibly confused. If Hazel thought about it, Jason usually looked incredibly confused.

"Bad idea." Nico said from the couch, running a hand through his pitch black hair. "Remember when I was forced to shadow travel me and Percy out of the woods about a week ago? He almost couldn't handle it, and I don't wanna risk it again."

Jason made an 'O' with his mouth, realization dawning on his face, "Oh. Yeah that makes sense."

"Uh huh," Annabeth began again, "So you'll be pleased to hear our escorts will be none other than the Hunters of Artemis themselves. And please, keep this to yourselves until they arrive. Percy might be mad about it."

Naturally, reactions were mixed all across the room.

0000000000

_(Percy POV)_

Damn, his stomach hurt. Probably from all of Apollo's prodding. Probably. He was voting on 'probably' because he didn't want to think of other reasons but didn't want to rule them out either.

Percy pushed himself gingerly off the Infirmary bed. Annabeth was nowhere to be seen, meaning she probably went to wake the others.

He was a little worried about her. Last night was rough, he could admit that. Whatever Apollo had pushed on in his belly didn't like that at all, and had him throwing up blood every three hours.

Definitely not the kind of thing he wanted Annabeth to see, cause even though she'd acted brave, he knew she was internally screaming about it. That might be why she was muttering so much.

But anyway, he was pretty sure he looked like death. Cause he felt like death, so the looks probably reflected what was inside. If he kept this up he'd give Nico a run for his money. That guy always looked like he lived under a tombstone.

He grabbed the fresh Camp tee and shorts off the side of the bed and began to get changed.

Percy hated almost being used to this. He felt like if he let himself forget what it was like to be healthy and strong, it would never come back to him.

A pretty scary thought.

But hey! He was going to good ole Hades' house, adventure awaits!

Once he was dressed, he padded to the door, opening it and stepping into the sunlight-flooded hallway. He could hear voices coming from the main room.

Stepping down the hall, he felt vague dizziness in the back of his skull. He stopped and put a hand on the wall, shutting his eyes tight as the wave of dizziness washed over him, riding out the internal storm. These had been happening more often now. He curled his hands into fists, sure that his knuckles turned white.

"Percy?"

Percy's eyes flew open and he immediately took his hand off the wall, straightening himself.

"Hey." Percy rasped back to Jason as he approached.

"Dude, you sound awful." Jason said concern dripping into his voice as he scanned the son of Poseidon's face.

Percy waved away the Roman's concern, "I'm fine, man. It's all good."

Jason nodded, getting the message to stop pestering him, "We're getting ready to leave, the others will be waiting out front."

"Cool." Percy said, "Go on without me, I'll catch up."

Jason gave him a knowing look. Percy raised his eyebrows. Jason took a step towards him. Percy raised his eyebrows even further.

"Dude. Percy."

"Bro."

Jason took another step, "Don't be a dumbass."

"I'm not."

"Bro."

"Dude."

"I'll help you walk."

"I don't need help."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't"

"You do."

"Do not."

"Dude."

"Bro, I don't need your h-" Percy's dizziness got the better of him as his legs gave out. Jason rushed forwards, grabbing him under his arms to stop the fall.

"Still don't need my help?" Jason grinned.

Percy sighed, failing to stop himself from giving Jason a little smile, "Fine, Superman. Have it your way."

"That's what I thought." Jason said, hoisting Percy up and putting his arm around him to help support his weight.

0000000000

Percy wasn't expecting to see what he saw when he stepped out the door. Or rather, when Jason stepped out the door practically carrying Percy with him.

The others - even Grover, to Percy's surprise - were out on the porch steps, filling backpacks with water bottles, ambrosia, and nectar. The camp in front of them was slowly waking up.

But that wasn't what he was most surprised at.

Next to Annabeth on the steps was Thalia Grace.

What was Thalia doing here? Why were the Hunters here? Did something happen?

"Jason…what's going on? Why's your sister here?" Percy said in a low voice, looking around at the Hunters of Artemis sitting on the grass stringing their bows.

"Well…uh… Annabeth talked to Dionysus and he said they should go with us. Just to help out, that's all." Jason said, shifting. He looked uncomfortable.

Percy wriggled out of Jason's grasp, sudden strength fueled by agitation and determination allowing him to walk stably on his own. He walked down the stairs and stood in front of Annabeth.

"Percy! How are y-"

"Why are the Hunters here?" Percy looked back and forth between Annabeth and Thalia. Something was going on here, and judging by the fact that he didn't know about it, it was probably bad.

"Hi, Percy." Thalia said with a smile. He didn't smile back.

"The Hunters are here to protect us from any monsters or other things that might attack us, Percy. That's all."

Percy felt himself sway a little bit, "What are the 'other things'? And why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

"We didn't wanna stress you out… Why are you so angry all of a sudden? Did something happen?" Annabeth asked, obviously seeing him sway and standing, gently putting a hand on his arm, "Be careful, if you're feeling dizzy you should sit down."

"Annabeth, what 'other things?"

Thalia looked away from the two of them. Well, she obviously didn't want to be in this conversation. Percy felt his irritation spike to the next level.

"Don't worry about it right now. It'll be okay, I promise."

She was keeping things from him. Of all the people here who were keeping things from him he never expected her to as well. He trusted her. Why was she lying to him? His head hurt. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

Suddenly, it hit him.

"Is it…me…?" He said, quiet at first and then louder, "The Hunters are here to protect you from _me_, aren't they?"

Annabeth smacked her hand to her face, "Percy. No."

"No, no, no. I'm right. You think I'm gonna attack you guys."

"That's not it at all- Percy, you need to calm down."

Percy knew he needed to calm down but couldn't find the will to do so. He glared at Annabeth. He thought he could trust her.

"Stop lying." He took a shaky step backwards.

"Percy, I would never lie to you, you know that. Please try to calm down." Annabeth said slowly, raising her hands in front of her. "You're losing it a little bit. I need you to calm down. You're not acting like yourself."

"You're lying." Percy spat before taking off up the stairs and practically hurdled through the front door.

He flew down the halls, skidding around corners and almost tripping over rugs until he found what he was looking for.

"Mr. D!" Percy exclaimed, throwing open the door into the wine god's office.

"For the love of Olympus." Dionysus muttered under his breath from his desk as Percy spoke onward.

"You think I'm going to attack them! That's why you asked the Hunters to come!"

"Perseus, you're really starting to grate on my nerves. Sit down." Dionysus flicked his finger and a chair of vines grew right out of the ground, pulling the son of Poseidon into it. "Much better."

"Tell me the truth. Why are the Hunters here." Percy grit his teeth. The world was swimming. He needed to calm down. But how?

"They're here to protect you and the others in case your disgusting disease attracts monsters right out of Tartarus, you imbecile."

"But the Doors of Death are closed!"

"You think you know the limits of the world we live in, Jackson? You haven't found them yet. Who _knows_ what kind of evil you'll attract with that smell. Monsters from all over will smell you eons away."

Realization hit Percy like a train. Annabeth was telling the truth. Abd he'd just snapped at her and accused her of lying. Now he felt like an asshole. A really big asshole.

"Percy!"

Percy's head whirled towards the door as Annabeth stepped through, concern all over her face.

"Annabeth! I-gods, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened I just saw the Hunters and I saw you and I was just like- Woah! And I was dizzy and stuff and then-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright. I know that most people haven't been straight with you recently and it's completely natural for you to assume I was lying. Don't worry." Annabeth said, "But still, I appreciate the apology."

"Well, this is all very endearing." Mr. D was boredly swirling diet coke in a wine glass, "But don't you two really need to get moving?"

"Oh. Yeah. Come on, Percy." Annabeth said, taking Percy by the hand and leading him out the door, "Thanks Mr. D!"

When they were in the hallway, Percy almost tripped over his own feet when Annabeth turned towards the Infirmary wing suddenly.

"What are we doing?" Percy quizzed as she pulled them both into the all-too familiar room. The Apollo poster on the wall beamed down at them. Just like an old friend.

"Here." Annabeth took her boyfriend's hand and dunked it in a tray of salt water. Percy's eyes widened.

"Any better?" She asked.

"Yeah, actually. A lot better." Percy breathed. He felt like a haze was lifted from over his brain. The dizziness subsided, leaving him feeling instantly relieved. "Wow. I really needed that."

Annabeth nodded, "That's why I'm gonna make everyone carry saltwater canteens with us. Will told me that it would do more good than none so, yeah."

"Good idea." Percy nodded. "So if I start feeling hazy or agitated you guys can just splash me in the face or whatever."

"That's the plan."

"I love your plans."

"I know you do." Annabeth gave him a kiss on the cheek, before whispering, "Don't worry about earlier, okay? I know it's hard for you right now and you feel like everything's going on behind your back. So it's okay."

"How'd you know that?"

Annabeth smiled and rolled her eyes, "I've known you for how many years now, Seaweed Brain? I think I know when my boyfriend's out of sorts."

Percy grinned, "I love you."

"I love you too." Annabeth grinned before pressing their lips together.


End file.
